Limited Edition wins wildcard NYC invite

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Port High group will compete in a cappella championship next month, bring acclaimed acts to town for Acapocalypse fundraising concert next week

Port Washington High School’s vocal jazz group Limited Edition is headed to New York City after all.

The group was informed Tuesday night that it is one of three groups selected in a new wildcard round to compete in the Varsity Vocals International Championship of High School A Cappella finals on Friday, April 29, at The Town Hall.

A perennial powerhouse in the a cappella competition, Limited Edition won the quarterfinal round of the competition on Feb. 6 at Port High to advance to the Midwest semifinals in DeKalb, Ill., on March 19.

There, the 17-member group finished second to Forte from Centerville High School in Dayton, Ohio, by 13 points — 392-405. Limited Edition member Rachael Billmann, a senior, was named the outstanding soloist of the competition.

Traditionally, that would have been the end of the road for Limited Edition, but because of record participation in the competition, Varsity Vocals added a wildcard round in which videotaped performances were judged.

Limited Edition finished second in wildcard voting to Enharmonic Fusion from DeKalb High School, good enough to win a shot at the championship.

This will be the fifth time in the last six years that Limited Edition has earned a trip to the finals. In 2010, it won the championship.

With just a month until the competition, fundraising to help pay for the trip to New York City is a priority. 

The group is counting on raising a significant amount of money by hosting Acapocalypse, which will bring five groups from throughout the country to Port Washington High School on Friday, April 8, for a public concert.

Headlining the concert will be Level, a professional Los Angeles-based group that includes Ben Bram, a Grammy award-winning arranger and music director who has been involved with the Pitch Perfect movies and television series “The Sing-Off.”

Other performers will include Midwest Vocal Express, an acclaimed a cappella and barbershop group; the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s a cappella group Fundamentally Sound; the Milwaukee School of the Arts vocal jazz group; and Limited Edition.

Tickets are $15 and are on sale in the high school office and at Sanfilippo’s Sentry Foods in Port Washington. The show begins at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium, 427 W. Jackson St.

For students, the Acapocalypse festival continues on Saturday, April 9. More than 400 students from throughout the region are expected to participate in a day of a cappella clinics and performances at Port High. 

Image information: 

LIMITED EDITION member Brianna Beilfuss took center stage for a solo during the Port Washington High School group’s performance in the Varsity Vocals International Championship of High School A Cappella quarterfinal competition at Port High Feb. 6. Other members of the group are Allison Ansay, Jacqueline Rowley, Courtney Luib, Breanna Grady, Matthew Haggenjos, Brianna Dawson, Erin Guokas, Nick Becker, Rachael Billmann, Austin Wojciehowski, Griffin Schaefer, Elliot DeMerit, Jack Walch, Nick Froelich, Addie Bretl, Michaela Tisdale and Dallas Erickson.                Press file photo