The Instructors
| Tom Anderson | Tom Anderson started his contemporary a cappella career with his time as the inaugural music director of UWEC a cappella group Fifth Element. Before and after Fifth Element, Tom was a member of Four Shadow and Ball in the House, leaving BitH just prior to the arrival of Peter Hollens. When Peter left BitH to return to the University of Oregon and the group he co-founded, On the Rocks, he asked Tom to arrange “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister, which was nominated for a CARA for Song of the Year. Tom has since had his work featured on BOCA, Voices Only, the Sing series and NBC’s The Sing Off. In a nutshell, he’s the guy you go to when your a cappella group, choral ensemble (show or otherwise), jazz group, or miscellaneous band of merry revelers needs an arrangement that will make people say: "Wow." Find out more at random-notes.com |
| Noah Berg | Hailing from the Jersey suburbs of New York City, Noah Berg has carried music as a passion for much of his life. At 16, he began to establish an interest in composition, winning the state-wide 2008 New Jersey Harmonium Choral Society’s Annual Choral Composition Contest. Now entering his junior year at the University of Rochester, Noah is majoring in music composition, and directs the Midnight Ramblers. Since he has been director, the group has been featured on Voices Only as well as Liquid 5th's own Ripple Effect: Constructive Interference. The Ramblers were also nominated for three CARA Awards: Best Male Collegiate Album, Song, and Arrangement (his own). Noah has arranged over fifty songs for the Ramblers to date, and in his next year(s) as director, plans many more. |
| Josh Chopak | Josh Chopak started his a cappella career in high school as leader of the Weston Town Criers. During that tenure he helped lead them to a 3rd place finish in the ICHSA, three CARA nominations including an award for best high school album, and seven ACA Nominations. With the Criers he also produced Acapocalypse, a mini-festival that brought in Duwende, Five O’Clock Shadow, Mister Tim, and Overboard. As a sophomore at Franklin and Marshall College, Josh now serves as Music Director of the all-male Chessmen. He is also an active volunteer for CASA, serving as an Ambassador to PA as well as a CARA Nominator and Judge. His responsibilities for Liquid 5th include being executive producer of Amplify, head of public relations & social media, and a recording engineer. |
| Ed Chung | row 2, cell 2 |
| Casey Gallas | Combining powerful leads and an unmatched passion for music, Casey provides the funk and soul to the solos he sings. His unique style reflects a diverse musical background of voice and instrumental studies including jazz styles, R&B, classical, hard rock, and everything in between. A cappella has been a focal point for Casey's life since his earliest days in music, and since that time, he has stamped his personal style on every thing he could get his voice on. Casey began by transforming his traditional High School Men's Quartet into a fully contemporary group, and then moved on to perform with multiple collegiate a cappella groups, including the wildly successful Georgia Tech Glee Club, where he performed in an eclectic array of venues from airport terminals, to Coca-Cola Christmas parties, to traditional college tours that included numerous performances each year. Since graduation, Casey has performed and worked on multiple award winning albums and singles. Casey brings a truly distinctive and high energy performance flair that captivates audiences everywhere. |
| Josh Heilbronner | Raised in the Sunshine State (Florida), Josh Heilbronner began his musical interest early. Once Josh got to high school, he sang in the award-winning choral group, OPUS, a group with which he traveled the country and the world, competing to bring home the gold. From there, a smaller barbershop group was formed, which sparked his interest in a cappella. After searching for a choir at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he found APC Rhythm, NYU's first co-ed group. After 3 years of singing, competing and traveling, he started directing the group. 5th team. Josh now sings with the award-winning CAL group the Red States. |
| Mike Jankowski | row 2, cell 2 |
| Chris Juengel |
During college, Chris directed and arranged for multiple a cappella groups at different age ranges and was a member and director of the UNCG Spartones from 2003 to 2007. During his tenure as director, the Spartones competed in the state and regional levels of the International Competition of College A Cappella multiple times, and won 1st place at the state level in 2005. At the same time, Chris directed the VIP, a co-ed high school a cappella group. During his time with them, the VIP also won the state championship and placed at the regional finals of the High School National Competition and also often performed with college-level groups in different areas. As a singer/songwriter, Chris has always kept his work going throughout his life. After years of writing songs and performing in local venues, he released his debut solo album in early 2006. The album was written, performed, and recorded entirely by Chris. His second album, SPACE, was released in 2010. Both CD's are available on numerous media outlets including iTunes, CDBaby. |
| Ben Leiberman | Ben Lieberman graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in Linguistics and Economics. Since beginning work as an a cappella producer in 2005, he has made a large impact working with the best talent. From collegiate powerhouses like the the SoCal Vocals and Purple Haze to international vocal legends the Swingle Singers to The Sing Off stars such as the Backbeats and Peter Hollens, Ben's work has garnered countless awards, BOCA features, CARA wins, etc. Find out more at http://audiogenix.net/ |
| Jonathan Minkoff | Jonathan Minkoff is the Executive Producer for the annual international a cappella festival, SingStrong. In 2011, SingStrong was nominated for "Favorite A cappella Event" in the A cappella Community Awards. He has directed various a cappella groups since 1984. Minkoff holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Northwestern University. He also holds a Juris Doctorate, cum laude with a concentration in Intellectual Property (copyrights, trademarks, entertainment law etc.) with honors from Boston University School of Law where he received the Dean's Award for achievement in Copyright Law. Minkoff is admitted to practice in both New York and Massachusetts. Find out more at www.jonathanminkoff.com |
| Carl Taylor |
Carl Taylor sang in college with Higher Ground at Appalachian State University and led the group in recording their first album. Carl has been deeply involved in the a cappella community ever since, founding Liquid 5th Productions, producing records for groups all over the country, pioneering modern collegiate a cappella live sound, and working alongside various organizations like CASA, the AACI, and Varsity Vocals. Working with the AACI, Carl helped to launch the first SoJam. Attending SoJam in 2003, acting as a producer in 2004, and technical producer from 2005-2007, Carl has become well-known for his live sound production abilities. He has produced concerts for numerous groups throughout the United States, including the UNCG Spartones, UNCG Sapphires, NCSU Grains of Time, Elon Sweet Signatures, Cornell Chordials, Cornell Last Call, UR Midnight Ramblers, Duke Rhythm and Blue, UMD Faux Paz, UConn Completely Different Note, and many more! As a producer and mixing engineer for Liquid 5th, Carl's work has been widely recognized and awarded in the a cappella community. His work has been featured on BOCA, Voices Only, and Sing and has received numerous CARA nominations and awards. He currently sings with transit, with their presence rapidly growing on a national level both inside and outside of the a cappella community. |
| James Wallace | Having studied piano, drums, and voice from an early age, James began his life in a cappella music as part of a traditional high school quartet. As a member of the Grains of Time at North Carolina State University, he began to experiment with vocal percussion and developed a passion for the vocal band style. Over the course of three years and hundreds of performances, James honed his skills as a vocal percussionist and quickly developed a reputation as one of the most talented “mouth drummers” in the area. Audiences frequently ask James where he stores the drum machine, only to be amazed to learn that EVERY drum sound they hear comes only from his mouth. Since founding transit in 2005, James has performed up and down the East coast and frequently leads vocal percussion workshops throughout the region. |
| Tim Jones (Mister Tim) | A fascinating exploration of the human voice, Mister Tim's live performance features one man building full songs with just his voice and a handful of electronic pedals, adding drums, instruments, melodies and harmonies, weaving sonic stories with thoughtfully-written original songs and creatively twisted covers. This is live looping like you've never seen it before. Find out more at www.mistertimdotcom.com |
