Oxford ‘Out of the Blue’ a cappella group works with choir, performs in McAfee

Fifteen Oxford students stood on the stage of the McAfee Center on April 3, singing a rendition of Bruno Mars’s “Uptown Funk,” using no instruments other than their voices.

The Oxford University, a cappella group Out of the Blue (OOTB), led a workshop for the students in the school’s choir program, later performing to a crowd of nearly 250 in the McAfee later that day.

The workshop was conducted before the performance. OOTB warmed up with the choir and taught them One Direction’s “What Makes you Beautiful.”  

“Instead of just standing in our stands while reading music, in the workshop we stood together in a circle and the more intimate feeling that came out of that was nice,” junior Camille Bismonte said. “We didn't use music, we just kind of added beats whenever it felt like it would fit.”

When the performance began, the choir members started with “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera.

After the first number, the audience exploded positively, with clapping, whistling and a few standing ovations. The rest of the evening including covers of popular songs like “Uptown Funk,” “Dancing Queen,” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” “Chasing Cars” and “California Girls.”

“I thought they were absolutely incredible, and I'm really glad the school invited them to come perform,” sophomore Mitali Shanbhag said.

In the foyer after the performance, CDs of previous year’s performances such as Redshift, Resound, and Soul Sisters were sold.  Donations were also given, and the proceeds from the CDs and ticket sales went to Helen and Douglas House of Hospice for Children and Young Adults.

“The performance opened up the idea of singing outside of the restrictive choir stereotypes of classical music,” Bismonte said.