Voco Novo (爵諾人聲樂團), a six-member a cappella group from Taiwan, will hold master classes and campus concerts in Los Angeles from April 20 to 24. Their four-day California tour will end with a ticketed performance in Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where they'll be joined by UCLA co-ed a cappella group Awaken.
Formed in 2009, Voco Novo hopes to present a new voice for Taiwan through interdisciplinary music. They captured the gold for both pop music and jazz categories at the 2012 vocal.total International A Cappella Competition in Austria; and the ensemble's "Across the Milky Way (迢迢牽牛星)” won "Best Asian Album” and "Best Folk/World Song runner-up” at the 2013 Contemporary A Capella Recording Awards.
Prior to arriving in California, the group will first stop by Arkansas to participate in the inaugural pop-and-a-cappella festival VoiceJam, before making their SingStrong debut in Chicago. They will also give performances in New York and San Francisco before visiting the schools of Los Angeles (Mayfield Senior School, Baldwin Park High School, Sierra Vista High School, Nogales High School, and Crescenta Valley High School) to jointly chair workshops for music students with jazz educator Michele Weir.
The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, organizer of the Voco Novo 2015 U.S. Tour, is hopeful that American audiences will be able to imagine the beauty and the enchanting scenery of the land of Taiwan through their music.
Tickets for the April 24 Voco Novo concert at Pasadena are going for US$30 each, but a group discount of US$25 each is offered for bulk orders of ten tickets or more. Audience members are also encouraged to pay it forward by purchasing additional tickets that the concert management will distribute to music students. Orders can be placed through www.ticketmaster.com.