Kingswood Oxford hosted 16 schools from throughout the area for the annual Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival (WIAF) on its West Hartford campus.

Wyvern International A Cappella Festival. Photo credit: David Newman (courtesy photo)

Submitted by Jackie Pisani, Kingswood Oxford School 

It’s easily the best two nights on the Kingswood Oxford campus.

On Friday, Jan. 26 and Sat. Jan. 27, KO hosted 16 high schools across the area for an evening of a cappella in its annual Wyvern Invitational A Cappella Festival (WIAF). West Hartford’s Conard and Hall high were among the schools that had participants.

The event serves as a fundraiser for Kingswood Oxford Team Tobati’s annual service trip to Tobati, Paraguay, which will take place this March for the 20th time.

KO’s Crimson 7 earned silver, and Kingswood Oxford’s Matthew Marottolo ’20 of Wethersfield took home first prize for Best Male Vocalist.

Each team performed two songs for the event. Performances included:

• Bristol Eastern High School – Strawberry Fields: “Undo It and “Believer”
• Conard High School – Be S#arp: Death of a Bachelor and “Believer”
• Ethel Walker – Grapes: “Love Today” and “Best of My Love”
• Fairfield Ludlow – Close Harmony -“Shake It Out” and Save the World/Don’t You Worry Child
• Hall High School – A Cafella: “The Boxer” and “True Colors”
• Kingswood Oxford – Crimson 7: “Sweet Caroline” and “Feeling Good”
• Kingswood Oxford – Oxfordians: “Turn the Beat Around” and “Pretty Hurts”
• Lexington High School – Guacomole: “Latch” and Price Tag”
• Lexington High School – Pitchpipes: “You Found Me” and “Black and Gold”
• Lexington High School – Onomatopoeia – “Footprints” (Sia) and Sweet Dreams/A little Party Never Killed Nobody Mashup
• The Wheeler School -18 Wheelers: “Different” and “Dancing on My Own”.

The full results are as follows:

Best Male Soloist – Matthew Marottolo – Crimson 7

Best Female Soloist – Anelga Hajjar – Onomatopoeia

Best Student Arrangement – Josh Feldman – Pitchpipes

Best Vocal Percussion – Jeremy Hariprasad

Best Choreography – Strawberry Fields for Believer

Best Student Director – Sofia Lomba, Adela Yan, Keeley Duran from the Grapes

Gold – Onomatopoeia (Lexington)

Silver – Crimson 7 (KO)

Bronze – Close Harmony (Fairfield Ludlowe)

Honorable Mention – Pitchpipes (Lexington)

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