“It is really fun to be able to go back and perform for people in the program now who are working hard to make a cappella,” the 2012 Kettering Fairmont High School grad and a former member of Eleventh Hour. “It’s an honor.”
His six-member band will perform Saturday at James S. Trent Arena, 3301 Shroyer Road. Fairmont’s Fusion and Eleventh Hour will open the show at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $20 or $30 for premium seats at the door. Advance tickets can be obtained at acafest.org or by calling Kettering Fairmont's box office at 937-499-2647.
Tickets to the festival’s Friday night showcase in the Kettering Performing Arts Center are $10 at the door.
The showcase starts at 7:30 p.m. and features Orando Fla.-based VoicePlay and top visiting ensembles.
Sixty-two high school and college a cappella groups from the region, Ohio and a list of states that includes Kentucky, Wisconsin, Illinois and Tennessee will take part in the festival. It includes clinics, master classes and evaluations by professional a cappella performers, directors and arrangers.
Wright State University and Chaminade Julienne, Troy and Stebbins high schools are among the local schools participating in the festival, which costs about $35,000 to produce. It raised $10,000 and draws 1,000 students and supporters to the region.
Fairmont High School vocal music director Brody McDonald, the coordinator of the annual festival, said Fairmont students truly benefit from the festival.
Volunteers and about 800 students from Fairmont’s choir department help put on the festival.
“Seven years ago, no one was doing this. I couldn’t take my kids anywhere to see this,” McDonald said. “We want our kids to have the best possible access to the people who are the best in the industry.”
Zimmerman is a success story from the a cappella program McDonald started 13 years ago.
He was a part of the Eleventh Hour group that competed on the second season of NBC's The Sing-Off in 2010.
Street Corner Symphony was a finalist that season and Zimmerman kept in touch with band members.
“I worked hard to maintain a presence in the a cappella community,” he said, noting that he recorded in his basement.
Zimmerman began filling in on vocal percussion with Street Corner Symphony in 2011.
He was living with his father and studying business and advertising at Sinclair when he became a full-time member of the band in 2013.
Zimmerman, now 20, has spent his time since touring and recording videos and music with the band.
Street Corner Symphony performed at the Fraze Pavilion in 2013 shortly after releasing Southern Autumn Nostalgia, its first album of all original music. Formed in 2010, the band also includes brothers Jeremy, Jonathan and Richie Lister and Adam Chance and Mark McLemore.
Its cover of "Misty Mountains" from The Hobbit has more than 400,000 views on YouTube.com. Street Corner Symphony's cover of Lorde's hit song "Royals" featuring Amanda Taylor has received nearly 80,000 views.
Zimmerman says he has been enjoying the ride.
“It is an amazing experience,” he said. “I would have never thought I would be a professional beat boxer when I was 15 or 16.”
About the Author
