On Monday, May 5, San Diego State University’s co-ed acapella group SoundWave put on their Spring Concert. The concert featured 15 of SDSU’s most talented singers who performed not only their competition set, but also some specialty arrangements made for the night.
The concert opened with senior Jacob Opatz introducing their opening set as their third place winning 2025 ICCA concert set. This arrangement featured “Eat Your Young,” by Hozier, “Erase Me,” by Lizzy Alpine and Jacob Collier, “Dream On,” by Aerosmith and “You/As the World Caves In,” by Greta Isaac and Matt Maltese.
The layering of voices really stood out in this set, with each individual singer coming together to make a sound that is both pleasing to the ear and easy to follow.
The concert then shifted gears to showcase two of the audition solos from this year. Shreyas Basu opened to large applause with “Intertwined” by Eloise. Then Juliette Mansfield and her guitar took the stage to perform an original song she wrote titled “Death is Knocking At My Door.” The song was very impressive and something that should be on Spotify and Apple Music for all to hear.
Next, the group gave the opportunity for seniors to shine with Senior Solos. This is an opportunity SoundWave gives to their graduating members where they get to pick a song to perform with the group and the music directors will arrange it for them.
The Senior Solos began with Louis Pecceu singing “Pink and White,” by Frank Ocean. We then transitioned into Opatz singing “We Can’t Be Friends,” by Ariana Grande. Senior Solos concluded with Edgar Adame having his full circle moment singing, “Leave the Door Open,” his original audition song when he auditioned for SoundWave.
After Senior Solos, we transitioned into a trio performance from Jade Bajado, Leslie De La O and Mackayla Olivas, who performed an arrangement from the musical “Waitress.” This song was special as they brought a guest guitarist on stage to play live music to accompany the singing.
Freshman Joey Kelly then got his time to shine as he performed “Fly Me To The Moon,” by Frank Sinatra. Kelly’s friends cheered for him long and hard in the crowd as he performed his solo.
The night ended with two final senior solos, including “Me in Twenty Years” and “Through the Fire.” Bajado ended with a heartfelt thank you to not only the audience but also her fellow members before the concert ended.
If you missed the Spring Concert, don’t worry. SoundWave will be back in the fall with auditions for those interested and many more concerts to come.
