Joe Sofranko, Walnut Hills grad and junior at University of Southern California (majoring in theater) is fresh back in Southern Cal from NYC, where USC's SoCal VoCals spent the weekend at Lincoln Center, winning the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella first-place finish – leading to a Sunday performance on "The Today Show."

This from an interview in the university’s Daily Trojan: The one-minute portion of Queen's "Somebody to Love" on “The Today Show” "was quick and it was over before you knew it," said Sofranko, VoCals' president. "It doesn't really feel like we were on TV. 'The Today Show' was really just icing on the cake; the real cake was [Saturday] night and being here and being with everyone."

After coming within two points of a perfect score and taking first place at the semifinals for the western United States, the VoCals arrived in New York for the finals and competed against a cappella groups from Northwestern University, Ithaca College, New York University, Florida State University and Oxford University.

"It's a sense of not trying to achieve perfection," Sofranko said. "A lot of the comments we receive aren't just about people doing technical things well on stage."

"It's the heart and soul that we bring to the music that makes us different," he said.

 

Postscript – Sofranko, whose Shakespeare chops are well-known in Cincinnati (and beyond, having won a national competition in his senior year at Walnut Hills) will spend the summer earning Equity points at Utah Shakespeare.