The invitation was so out of the blue — and like something out of a movie — that members of Pitch, Please! questioned whether it was legitimate.
But the opportunity to sing everywhere from street corners to a stadium during the Hong Kong International a capella Festival turned out to be not only a reality for the woman-centered a cappella group at Northeastern, it was a growth experience.
“The challenges were just really big growth opportunities for us as individuals, as student leaders, and as a group,” said Briana San Philips, the group’s president and a fourth-year student who is graduating this spring. “It was definitely like exercising a new muscle, and it was very exciting to get that opportunity to do so.”
A cappella is vocal music performed without instrumental accompaniment, and Pitch, Please! is one of a half dozen groups specializing in the performance style at Northeastern. Pitch, Please! regularly competes in a cappella contests and prides itself on “pushing the limits” of what can be done with the human voice, San Philips said. So, they sing not only pitches or words but incorporate beatboxing to voice the percussion line of songs, and they add their “own twist” to well-known Western music – “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child melds into Gloria Gaynor’s “I will Survive.” Then there’s also choreography for each song – let’s just say, they don’t typically simply stand in a circle or a single-file line for an entire song.
The group traveled to Hong Kong in late March for the Hongkong Federation of Youth Groups’ 2026 a cappella festival, performing nearly a dozen times at malls, on street corners, in schools and elsewhere over the course of nine days.
“Our focus was really to bring the fun and energy that we have when we are competing, along with the types of songs from the U.S. that we love to these other countries,” said Bethany Davies, a third-year electrical engineering and music technology student who is the group’s music director.
The festival culminated in a stadium concert where Pitch, Please! sang alongside a cappella groups from mainland China, Hong Kong and Bulgaria.
“It was so cool to see all these different cultures and perform at all these different venues,” said Pragna Shashidhar, the group’s public relations manager and a second-year environmental engineering student who sings alto. “It was genuinely one of the most amazing experiences ever.”
The singers said that one of the most interesting experiences of their trip was interacting with fans who were on “a completely different level” than audiences in the United States, according to Shashidhar.
“We actually felt like we were K-pop idols,” said Shashidhar. “It was an entirely different world that we were transported to because there was a fangirl culture that you don’t really get here.”
For example, while American audiences might cheer in the middle of a song or when a particularly high note is sung, the audience in Hong Kong saved their excitement until after the show, when they could meet with the group, the Northeastern singers said.
“There was a photo booth afterwards where there was a queue of people who had watched the show waiting to take pictures with us, waiting for autographs, waiting to interact with us and talk to us, which we don’t really have a lot of experience with here,” San Philips said. “Fan culture and what it means to support live performance is very different over there, which was really fun and really exciting for us.”
The audience connection wasn’t the only thing that strengthened during the trip.
Being together for two weeks straight, navigating a new place, and sharing such big moments made our bond feel a lot deeper,” said Shashidhar. “It feels like we came back not just as a better group, but as an even stronger sisterhood.”
San Philips said the whole experience of performing at the festival was “an honor.”
“It makes me really proud of this group that has worked so hard and is getting recognized for that hard work and the artistry that we pride ourselves on,” San Philips said. “I’ve really had the privilege of watching this group grow and having the honor of being recognized at an international level is just absolutely insane.”
And while a surprise email has yet to arrive for their next international tour, Pitch, Please! will take the hard work and bond they gained from their Hong Kong experience to their next gig – the group is one of a dozen university ensembles performing in the commencement finale at Fenway Park on April 29.
There are more than 200 student performers in the finale, including members of:
- Northeastern University Pep Band
- Wind Ensemble
- Dance Team
- Nor’easters (a cappella)
- Revolve (hip-hop dance)
- Kaliente Dance Group (Latinx dance)
- NU Rangila (co-ed fusion dance)
- Northeastern University Dance Company
- Northeastern University Cheerleading
- New England Bhangra Club (traditional Punjabi dance)
- Kinematix Dance Team
- Pitch, Please!
Finally, Pitch, Please! Is not the only a cappella group from Northeastern celebrating a milestone.
On Saturday, The Nor’easters took home first place in the 2026 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Finals!