Quaker Notes, Penn’s premier all–female a cappella group and the oldest a cappella group at the university, will take the stage at Upper Darby’s Tower Theater tonight as the opening act for the three-time Grammy award–winning Pentatonix.
On November 29th, the Quaker Notes received an email from LiveNation representative Rebecca Weinstock, in search of local a cappella talent. Submitting recordings for consideration was a no-brainer. “Whenever we’re arranging our songs, we’re always like, ‘oh, Pentatonix did such a good arrangement of that,’” says Quaker Notes former music director Emily Peters (E’18) “They’re really it in terms of a cappella.”
On Friday, Quaker Notes found out that they’d been selected, and they began a mad dash to prepare for the show. “Pentatonix’s production manager wanted us to perform 20 minutes of holiday songs, but we had no holiday songs in our repertoire,” says senior member Laura McGee (N’18). The group has spent over 20 hours in rehearsals since Saturday, perfecting four holiday songs that Quaker Notes’ three arrangers stayed up completing on Friday night.
The Philadelphia show marks the fourth performance of Pentatonix’s 12-show Christmas tour, which coincides with two separate airings of their second annual NBC holiday special, A Very Pentatonix Christmas. Though the Quaker Notes are the first Penn a cappella group to perform at a live show with Pentatonix, they’re not the first to share a stage with them. Pentatonix performed a cameo as a Canadian a cappella group in 2015’s Pitch Perfect 2, sharing a featured spot with Penn Masala and other selected groups.
For the members of Quaker Notes, their proximity to Pentatonix and the honor of being selected are far more exciting than the exposure of tonight’s concert. “I just can’t wait to meet them,” says Laura. “The whole thing is just so amazing, and it means so much to us as a group.”
Tickets for tonight’s show are available via LiveNation, starting at $89.50.
