20 years of ‘Owl Cappella’ with the Rice Philharmonics

My name is Molly Mohr, and I am an aca-holic. An acapell-loser. Whatever pun you can form with the words “a cappella,” I am that. I’ve been in the Rice Philharmonics (better known as the Phils) for the past three years of my time at Rice University, even leading the undergraduate club as president this last year.

The 2014-2015 Rice Philharmonics

It’s no secret that a cappella is having a moment right now (think the movie “Pitch Perfect,” the a capella group Pentatonix, Andy Bernard from “The Office” — you get the picture). In the midst of this craze, the Phils are celebrating their 20th anniversary as the oldest a cappella club on campus. To commemorate this milestone, I wanted to dig up the forgotten history of the group. The Phils have, no doubt, an impressive list of accomplishments: They have released seven CDs (the most recent is available on iTunes and Spotify), built their own recording booth from scratch, toured the country and participated in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) — yes, the same competition featured in “Pitch Perfect.”

But I was more interested in the stories behind their many achievements. So, I delved deep into the Phils’ past, reaching out to more than 100 alumni and even going to the lengths of pulling out dusty VHS tapes from the university archives. What I found was aca-mazing. (Okay, I’ll stop with the puns now.)

The Phils celebrate after placing third at the ICCA quarterfinals in 2001.

I started my search at the beginning, reconnecting with some of the founding members of the club. I learned that the Phils began in 1995 as a joint effort by Laura Huff ’98 and Emily Jiang ’97. One of the other charter members, Andy Hickl ’98, recalled Huff’s recruiting efforts in a biology lab with him.

“I remember her asking me, ‘What would you be doing this afternoon if you weren’t running electrophoresis gels?’” said Hickl. “And I said, ‘Probably singing.’”

Huff, in surprise, asked if he happened to be a tenor because, well, her new a cappella ensemble needed that voice part. “I think I went to the first practice that night.” Hickl said.

The Phils bonding over their trip to the 2004 ICCA quarterfinals at Duke University

The Phils’ first music director was Philip Rothman ’98 — and no, the name similarity is not a coincidence. Gathered around a chalkboard at Brown College, the original members brainstormed potential club names. Brandon Gibson ’99 said someone “jokingly threw out the name ‘The Philharmonics’ in honor of our music director. He immediately dismissed it, but I guess we enjoyed the pun, and it stuck.”

After that, the Phils gave their debut performance at an admissions recruitment weekend in the fall of 1995. The ensemble then organized the first A Cappella Fest in the spring of 1996 with two other groups on campus (the Brown Quartet and Lager Rhythms) and The Other Guys, an ensemble from the University of Illinois. When the Phils entered the Rice Memorial Chapel for the multigroup concert, Rothman was floored by the turnout.

The Phils celebrating Rice's Centennial in 2012 during a concert in the Rice Memorial Chapel

“After everyone returned from spring break, we only had a week to rehearse and publicize the concert,” Rothman said. “I thought maybe we’d have a handful of people in the audience, but it was standing room only. The place was completely overfilled; it seemed like people were hanging from the rafters. At that moment I realized that a cappella had a real future on campus.”

Though that concert took place nearly two decades ago, the Phils still enjoy performing for large crowds. (Senior) Zach Bielak, music director this past year, described the excitement from a more recent live concert. The Phils traveled to Texas A&M University last February to perform in an a cappella showcase with groups from all over the state. The auditorium was filled with more than 1,000 people — the largest audience for whom the Phils have ever performed.

The Phils visiting Fordham University (and snow!) during their tour of New York, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2014

“The Phils have had packed concerts before back at Rice, but A&M was an entirely different beast,” Bielak said. “My nerves were so high that I don’t remember much of the concert, but I definitely remember not being able to hear the singers on either side of me because the crowd was roaring so loudly. It was absolutely incredible to feed off such an enthusiastic audience.”

While more recent travels have focused on touring and performing with other ensembles, such as at A&M’s showcase, the Phils have also driven across the country to compete in ICCA. Ellen Wan ’01 described the Phils’ first ICCA appearance in 2000.

“We placed dead last,” Wan said. “We learned the hard way that bringing our quirky Rice Owl flavor did not translate on a regional/national scale.”

Slowly adding more choreography as the years progressed, the Phils recently did a kick-line during one of their performances in April of 2015.

The only positive comment on the judges’ sheet was “no timidity,” meaning that the club had no fear. The Phils then used that comment as the title of their next CD, released in 2001.

In addition to providing inspiration for a CD title, that trip kindled what would become an eventual marriage between Anderson and Juliette MacKay, ’00 and ’01, respectively. Lisa Harper Chang ’99 and Jim Harper ’99 also married after becoming friends in the club.

While the Phils might have kindled romance between some members, it also provided a launching pad for several professional careers in music.

For example, Rothman went on to receive his Master of Music degree from Juilliard and has since composed for numerous symphonies and orchestrated music for major feature films. The Phils also have a Grammy-winning alumna, Caroline Shaw ’04, who took home a Pulitzer Prize in 2013 — the only one ever given to an a cappella work in the award’s history. Another famous Phil is Martina Snell ’99, now known as Mother Cecilia. In 2014, Mother Cecilia and the nuns in her convent recorded a CD that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard’s classical traditional chart.

With such big shoes to fill, I can’t wait to see the great things my fellow Phils will do after graduating from Rice. In the meantime, the group has a couple of major events slated to kick off their third decade of making music and memories. In early May, the club will release a brand-new music video for the nostalgic “Lion King Medley” on their YouTube page, and then they plan to record and produce another CD in the upcoming academic year. And as a proud alumna, you bet I’ll be the first in line to buy a copy.

Molly Mohr is a senior at Rice University double-majoring in English and sport management and minoring in business. She is originally from San Antonio.