By Isabel Vorst | Intern
On March 15, Baylor’s a cappella team, VirtuOSO, competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) semifinals in Scottsdale, Ariz., bringing yet another victory home after winning quarterfinals in San Antonio in January.
“I think the biggest note of this one is that it was completely student-produced,” Conductor Reginal Wright said.
Bacliff junior Gabi McGregor said the pressure was different from what it was at the quarterfinals, as only the top team advances to compete in New York.
“I think many of us were okay with whatever happened,” McGregor said. “If we got to go on from here, that’s great, but we were so content regardless. We were just there to do our job and share the gospel, the message that we’ve been sharing through this set.”
Woodlands junior Brent Cabote reiterated how each member of the team is an invaluable powerhouse in their own way.
“After semifinals, there was more confirmation that like, ‘Oh, this isn’t really about us,'” Cabote said. “Because winning by one point, that doesn’t happen.”
Deer Park sophomore Jolie Bridy explained how the group handled the pressure of such a high-stakes competition.
“Something that really helped calm the nerves and keep us grounded was bringing it back to God, because that is what our set is focused around, it’s just the storms of life, but the sun comes out, and it is God,” Bridy said.
The purpose of VirtuOSO’s message is to showcase the healing light of God.
“People need to see his goodness, the way that he is working in each one of us through the power of music that is so universal,” Bridy said.
Cabote commented on the arts being reclaimed for Christ, changing them back to what they used to be: a medium for glorifying God.
“It’s a good reminder that the only reason we have the capacity to do something like this is because we have a father who is the original artist, and we were created by a creator to create,” McGregor said.
Milwaukee senior Damien Blair said one of the things God has shown him through VirtuOSO’s journey is that there is power in every creature God has created. VirtuOSO demonstrates the way diversity, when functioning according to God’s design, is an enormous blessing.
“The people and diversity of talent that we have is unheard of; none of us have ever done anything like this,” Blair said. “There’s so much power in learning from people who don’t look or sound like you. God has shown us what happens when we all have this same mindset for his mission, which at the end of the day is love.”
VirtuOSO has become more than a close-knit group or a place for musicians to exercise their unique talents: it has become a glimpse of God’s design for a reality in which people are united through Christ’s love.
“It’s a glimpse of what heaven looks like,” McGregor said. “And I like to think what heaven sounds like.”
