NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Arts Council is gearing up once again for the city’s annual a cappella showcase in the 42nd annual Silver Chord Bowl on Feb. 8 at the John M. Greene Hall on Smith College’s campus.
Tickets are already on sale for the oldest a cappella event in the region, celebrating the musical styles of the northeast’s most talented a cappella groups.
The popular event is traditionally hosted by the mayor of Northampton and the president of Smith College.
“This event started in Amherst years ago and then came to Northampton as part of the city’s now defunct Winter Festival,” said Northampton Arts Council producer Steve Sanderson, a co-host of the show.
Since then, the Northampton Arts Council has been curating the Silver Chord Bowl, a competition that has now turned into an invitational showcase that brings a broad expanse of talented collegiate a cappella groups to one place. Tradition meets modern in this night full of interpretations of classic songs, spanning genres, eras and regions.
This year’s program will open with a performance by Northampton High School’s Northamptones, followed by the Vibes from Smith College and five additional collegiate ensembles from across the region. The remaining acts will be selected and announced in the next month.
In previous years, the Silver Chord Bowl has seen groups from Dartmouth, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale, Boston College, New York University, Smith College, Northampton High School, Amherst College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and more. The schools have flexed their creative and musical muscles across this event. Sanderson said when the Arts Council took control of the bowl, former Director Bob Cilman had “injected some new life into it.”
“When Bob inherited it, it was a competition, and somebody would win at the end. Under Bob’s reign of the Arts Council, they made it a showcase instead,” explained Sanderson. “It was definitely for positive vibes. There’s enough competition in everyday life, why do we need it in art. And I feel the same way, and that’s why we’ve kept it that way for the last 11 years that I’ve been here with the Arts Council.”
Sanderson said while a cappella competitions and showcases used to be more common years ago, the genre of performance still resurfaces every handful of years, stretching the music style’s reach across generations.
“There’s a reason this event has lasted 40 years. People keep coming back to it. It keeps resurfacing. The popularity of a cappella kind of comes and goes in cycles, sort of like pop music does. The kids in high school now are into grunge [music] again. There’s a cycle it follows. And it keeps coming back because it’s a tried-and-true form of music,” said Sanderson. “You see it surface in pop culture over and over again. You’ll see a hit movie that revolves around a cappella. It just comes back and every 10 years, or whatever the cycle is, [and] it becomes all the rage in pop culture again. It’s got staying power.”
Sanderson added the other main reason for the event’s staying power is tied to how the genre and act are age-old traditions in colleges. With the various groups invited to perform each year, Sanderson said you see the styles and genre of songs clash from some of the most talented a cappella groups regionally in a fun and unique way for audiences.
“Sometimes you get a very traditional group and they do old standards. Then a lot of times we get newer ones that like to work with contemporary music, or rework hip hop or R&B,” said Sanderson. “It’s fun to see one right next to the other. When we have a group from Yale that’s doing traditional standards, people love it. It’s great because it’s completely different. Then someone will come out and do a song by Jay-Z.”
All proceeds from the event benefit community arts, something Sanderson said is crucial for the groups yearly grant offerings. While the city receives a yearly allocation of grant funding from the state to support areas within the arts, Sanderson explained Northampton has become a leader in the region by using its own grant funding model within their own Arts Council.
An example of this is the J. Scott Brandon Grant Fund, or the JSB Fund. The grant ensures that all interested students at Northampton High School have an opportunity to receive music lessons and supplies for their instruments throughout their high school careers. People can donate to this fund at any point in the year, but the money raised from the Silver Chord Bowl and other events by the council lead directly to the support of opportunities like this and other programming from the council.
“We work with schools, we help fund arts programs in schools, we help them with concerts, the marching band. We’re always ready for anyone who needs art supplies for stuff. We earmark grant monies for the public schools, if an art teacher needs something. All they have to do is go through the application process,” explained Sanderson.
The Silver Chord Bowl is presented by the Arts Council, but it really comes to life through its collaboration with Smith Colllege, Sanderson said. He shared that having access to the John M. Green Hall allows the event to be the best version of itself come show time.
“Smith has always been incredibly accommodating for the Arts Council. Always. They’ve always put arts as something that’s very important to them, and they also I think really appreciate their relationship with the city of Northampton,” said Sanderson. “The Silver Chord Bowl wouldn’t be able to happen if they didn’t help us with John M. Green Hall. It’s very important that we have John M. Green Hall because 1,200 to 2,000 people are going to come to the event depending on where a cappella music is in pop culture at that moment.”
While the Silver Bowl Chord doesn’t return for another two months, Sanderson said he hopes the public is eager to get back to the show and take in all the a cappella glory that comes with it.
“It’s a generational show. Grandmothers coming with their grandchildren, the same grandmothers who brought their kids years ago. It’s become a family tradition,” Sanderson said.
Advanced tickets for premium reserved seating are $35. For general reserved seating, tickets are $15. Smith College students receive 50% off general reserved seating when purchasing a ticket online through FreshTix using the promo code: smithstudent. To purchase tickets, visit freshtix.com/events/silver-chord-bowl-3, or call 678-701-6114.
