by Madeline Levinsohn ’19, Staff Writer

LumeNAtion is Newark Academy’s competitive a cappella group, run by Mr. Lal, Jack Bender, and Ms Ferentinos alongside their student leaders Madeleine Levinsohn, choreographer, and Sammi Powell, musical captain. The group competes in the International Competition for High School A Cappella, or ICHSA. Newark Academy has been competing in ICHSA competitions for three years now, but it was not until 2017 that LumeNAtion was officially founded. Currently, the group is comprised of students from Academy Voices and Concert Choir who are serious about both music and performing. 

The name is derived from our school motto, “ad lumen” meaning “towards the light,” and the group strives to create thought provoking performances bridging the visual and musical aspects of a cappella.  One of the things that sets this group apart from other high school a cappella groups is their original arrangements. Jack Bender, accompanist for the choral program here, arranges each piece, tailoring each arrangement to the group and to the rest of the set. This year, he focused on incorporating Latin throughout the set. This charged the ensemble track, which can sometimes become a bit boring in other a cappella arrangements, with more intention and movement. The group also prides themselves on tight choreography that enhances the emotion and meaning of the set. In years past, Mr. Lal has brought in a professional dancer and choreographer for competition choreography. However, this year the group chose to try student choreography and become eligible for a special award. While it was difficult at the start, all of the members banded together in the end to execute Madeleine’s choreography with purpose and enthusiasm.  

January 27th was the group’s first competition of the year: ICHSA quarter-finals. It is fair to say that the group was somewhat anxious going in that day due to crunched rehearsal time, challenging music and choreography, plus an unfamiliar performance venue.  LumeN spent the day preparing for the evening competition by running their set and getting notes from Mr. Lal, Mr. Bender, and Ms Ferentinos, all of whom were able to attend the trip.  They specifically worked to tighten the visual aspects of the performance and add more dramatic musical dynamics.  The group also spent some time relaxing and bonding before the high energy performance that night.  Luckily, all of the hard work of months past payed off.  Although they only truly rehearsed for 2 months prior to the competition, LumeNAtion proudly took home first place and is looking forward to moving on to semifinals this spring.  Sammi Powell, class of ‘19, says that she is “so excited to go to semis! Doing the quarterfinal was so much fun and meeting other people with the same passion was awesome!”.  

Looking towards the future, the group must set the quarterfinal performance as the lowest bar for performance standard and continue to improve their set. This month, LumeNAtion will be interviewed on Acaville Radio regarding the rehearsal process and their goals for the group moving forward. “Castle” by Halsey with a solo by Sammi Powell will also be featured on the station. In addition to winning at quarterfinals, Sammi Powell took home the award for best soloist for this song and is excited to share her work with the rest of the a cappella world.

LumeNAtion is also hoping to professionally record some of their strongest songs for submission into a number of other high school a cappella competitions.  Be sure to look out for their work later this year. For tickets to their next competition, visit varsityvocals.com or check in with one of the group’s leaders.  

The author of this article is a member of LumeNAtion.