On Saturday January 26, BSM hosted a Twin Cities A Cappella Festival featuring the Red Knotes and an international traveling A Cappella group, Six Appeal. This program also included other high school, college and professional A Cappella groups.

Mr. Adam Petroski, the choir director at BSM and the Minnesota Representative for the A Cappella Education Association, presented the idea last April to some other choir directors to see if they would be interested in doing something like this. “I am just trying to show more people this kind of music and a cappella and stuff like that and I’m the Minnesota person to do that,” Petroski said.

The day consisted of two shows, one at 4:00 and another at 7:00. The shows included different a cappella groups at each time with their music filling the great hall. One of the groups that performed was Six Appeal. This group is based in Minnesota and they perform all over the country and world. “They’re kind of a big deal,” Petroski said.

The Red Knotes performed three different songs, but for senior captain Matthew Hansberry, the last one was his favorite. “For me, it was in the last song, ‘Best I Ever Had,’ where I sing a high note at the end and cut it off. Then from silence, we start up again in a huge flood of sound,” Hansberry said.

Throughout the whole day, the groups were together doing workshops, playing games, and getting to know one another. They learned new things and meet people who do the same as they do. “It was a lot of fun meeting the other groups. We meet a lot of new people and also saw some people that we saw last year too,” Hansberry said.

The Red Knotes and the other groups also had the opportunity to talk with Six Appeal, and gained some professional insight on their songs.“They were very awesome! They were so cool and interesting to talk with. Our songs got dramatically better after we worked with them,” Hansberry said.

The Twin Cities A Cappella festival was a hit for both the groups and the people watching. “It was a great time spent making new friends and hanging out with the other Red Knotes,” Hansberry said.