July 11, 2025
For four days in late June, the sound of classic rock filled the halls of the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center as “Acappellooza Summer” returned to the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Now in its 13th year, the overnight music camp brought 142 students in grades 9 through 12 to the UMSL campus for an immersive singing experience led by some of the world’s best-known names in a cappella music. “I don’t think there’s a single camp in the entire country that’s exactly like Acappellooza Summer,” Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies Jim Henry said. “We bring in really great clinicians, including Debbie Cleveland from Florida, who’s known around the world... There is no camp in the country – at least that I’ve heard of – that does it exactly the way we do.”
This year featured a classic rock theme, with campers performing songs such as ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Sting’s “Fields of Gold.” Campers were given learning tracks and sheet music ahead of time so that they could arrive at camp with all the songs fully memorized before spending three and a half days working on choreography and perfecting their group performance to a crowd of nearly 1,500 people Friday night. Henry said, “You really need all the people around you to be giving their best in order for you to be able to give your best, and vice versa... With singers, that means they’re also blending their souls, because those two things are very connected in a singer. It’s a really personal thing.”
