A capella ensemble performs in Centereach

North High School’s a cappella group took the stage at Centereach High School alongside vocalists from high schools across Long Island on March 5.

“I’m very proud of the effort, energy, and confidence they put into this performance,” said the group’s director, Adam Thorn. “They get better every year!”

The a capella group, 7:10 Downbeats, an audition-based contemporary ensemble of 24 singers, participates in the Centereach A Cappella Invitational Concert every year.

The group is now in its sixth year, and gets its “7:10” portion of its name from the time that the students meet in the morning before the school day begins. “Downbeat” refers to both the first beat in any measure of music, but is also musician slang for the beginning of a rehearsal.

At the Centereach event, the 7:10 Downbeats performed the songs, “Waiting on the World to Change,” featuring soloists Megan Trentacosta and Nicholas Sossi Romano, and “Kids in America,” with solos by Anna Fagbemi, Morgan Dalal, Gina Maniscalco, Justin Schoenfeld, Candice Biegler and Sebastiano Ricci. They also joined the other groups for a collaborative presentation of “Oh What a Night.”

The singers are currently preparing a new spring program for performance at local venues as well as the Small Ensembles Concert in June. Earlier in the school year they presented their holiday program at the Malverne Tree Lighting and participated in New York’s first SingStrong a cappella festival at Adelphi University.