Rockapella tickets on sale Thursday

Van Wert independent/NPAC information

Five guys with five voices make an amazing full-band sound and call themselves Rockapella. The group is coming to the Niswonger Performing Arts Center Friday, November 4, at 7:30 pm, Rockapella mixes rock with a capella music for an exciting, upbeat and harmonious performance. Tickets go on sale August 4.

One of the world’s most sophisticated and lasting pop vocal groups that showcase the power of the human voice, Rockapella, the vocal group behind the PBS kid-TV smash hit “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” and their Folger’s Coffee commercial, will use just five voices to create an astonishing full-band sound. Their appeal is popular with older audiences and still “hot” with younger crowds.

Since the group’s beginning, there have been a dozen men who have been a part of Rockapella. “As each guy has moved on or retired, the group has technically gotten better and closer to perfection,” explains the most senior member, Scott Leonard. Current members of Rockapella include Leonard, the group’s chief songwriter (high tenor); George Baldi III (bass); John K. Brown (tenor); Steven Dorian (tenor); and mouth drummer Jeff Thacher, who provides a world of percussion sounds through beat-boxing. The group’s dance moves and smooth Motown harmonies are akin to The Temptations.

From an enthusiastic a capella quartet of Brown University graduates singing Doo Wop on New York City street corners in 1986 to a high-energy quintet performing at least 80 concerts around the globe per year, Rockapella has recorded 20 albums, performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra and appeared on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.

It is not too late to include this concert in the Community Concert package, which also includes Gaudete Brass, Capital Steps, Livingston Taylor with the voices of Unity Choir, and Sandy Hackett’s Rat Pack show: all for one low price of just $60!

Tickets for the November 4 concert are $30. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.npacvw.org, at the NPAC box office at 10700 State Route 118 South in Van Wert, or by phone at 419.238.NPAC (6722) Tuesday through Friday from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information about tickets and additional shows at the NPAC, visit the NPAC website or find it on Facebook.