Alumni join Octaves in Spring Fever Concert

The Octaves, Richmond's only men's a cappella group, will perform in its 17th annual Spring Fever concert on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Camp Concert Hall.

Twenty-five alumni members of The Octaves will accompany the 14 current members in celebration of its twentieth anniversary of the group.

"What we're doing is reviving songs from the group's history from generations," president Geoff Weathersby said. "There's going to be 40 people singing on stage. It's going to be unreal."

The group will sing 11 songs, Weathersby said. The soloists performing will be Eric Rudofker, Jared Feinman, Jackson Taylor, Sean Brewer, Sam Raab, Chris Dolci and Jack Shaw, he said.

"We typically practice five hours a week, but this week we have been practicing every day," Weathersby said. "On Friday, we are going into Carytown to run our set and boost the hype of Spring Fever."

The Octaves have promotion events for Spring Fever this week, including flash concerts on Wednesday through Friday, Weathersby said. During the flash concerts, members perform in different areas on campus, so people passing can gather around, he said.

"Five generations of alumni are coming, so we have a concert that spans the history of The Octaves," music director Nic Dacey said.

Weathersby said he was most excited for the alumni to visit because he had been working over a year with Jack Shaw to get them to come to Richmond.

"Getting 25 alumni is way beyond our expectation," Weathersby said. "We only expected 10 to 12 alumni, so this is very exciting and fulfilling."

Freshman Jared Feinman said that he was most excited to sing with his high-school choir director, a Richmond graduate and a member of The Octaves. Feinman will be singing "Happier" by Guster along with Rudofker, Feinman said.

The concert will feature songs modeled after artists including, Bruno Mars, Guster and Outcast, Weathersby said.

"All the songs we sing are cover songs," Dacey said. "We have listening parties where we propose songs and then arrange them into parts for the group to sing."

The Octaves are currently working on a sponsorship with Coca Cola, Rudofker said.

"We are just a bunch of students that like to sing," Rudofker said. "We hire a sound board director, manage ticket sales, do publicity not just on campus, but also in the city. All this comes down to what we're willing to put into it. We haven't had an off year and that's the expectation that gets passed on."

This is the capstone for the whole year, freshman Jackson Taylor said. As big of an administration commitment that the concert is, it's an even bigger musical commitment, he said.

Contact reporter Rachael Specter at rachael.specter@richmond.edu