The Stanford Mendicants are an all-male

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. The group is Stanford University's first a cappella group. Since its founding in 1963, the group's size has varied from 6 to 19 members. Although they are strictly an a cappella group today, they have performed with instruments in previous generations. The group prides itself on singing a wide range of songs, from

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

to barbershop to pop tunes and original compositions. The Mendicants are known around Stanford's campus for their red blazers and romantic serenades.

History and Accolades

The Stanford Mendicants was founded in 1963 by Hank Adams, a transfer student from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, with a group of 5 undergraduate men. The group originally rehearsed only a single song before breaking into the dining commons of Branner Hall, an all-women's dormitory at the time, and performing their song during lunch. Adams often recalled, himself tearing up, that during their performance, the women wept, and there was literally "not a dry eye in the house". Having only rehearsed the one song, they quickly fled through an open window and went immediately back to rehearsal. Their 1998 album ''Besides What You See'' received a 4.2 rating from the Recorded A Cappella Review Board (rarb.org), which is the group's highest album score to date. The group was Runner-Up in three categories in the inaugural

Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards The Contemporary A Cappella Society (of America), or CASA, is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to fostering and promoting a cappella music of all styles around the world. CASA was founded in 1991 by Deke Sharon in San Francisco just ...

(CARAs) in 1992. As of 2020, they have been nominated for six more recording awards since then: in 1999, 2001, 2005, and 2019. Mendicant songs were selected for Varsity Vocals' "Best of Collegiate A Cappella" compilation album in both 2001 and 2005. On February 2, 2019, The Stanford Mendicants finished in first place in the ICCA Northern California Quarter-Finals in Redwood City, CA. The Mendicants also took home two individual awards, including Outstanding Soloist, for Austin Zambito-Valente, and Outstanding Choreography, for Khoi Le and Gabe Wieder.

Notable alumni

Chris Ayer Chris Ayer is a solo guitar artist. Ayer attended The Potomac School from kindergarten until twelfth grade. A graduate of Stanford University, where he studied philosophy and music, Ayer began playing the guitar and writing songs when he was ...

, Singer and Songwriter *

Jordan Gelber Jordan Gelber (born 1975) is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway in the musical '' Avenue Q'', in '' All My Sons'' and in '' Elf the Musical'', among other shows. He has also performed in many off-Broadway productions. He h ...

, actor from the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

run of ''

Avenue Q ''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of PBS' ...

'' * Founding Mendicant Dick Grant, Director of the

Pacific Mozart Ensemble Pacific Edge Voices (formerly The Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME)) is a volunteer choral organization based in Berkeley, CA. The group was formed to provide a chorus of professional quality for highly skilled and experienced singers who did not wi ...

* Founding Mendicant

John Frohnmayer John Frohnmayer (born June 1, 1942) is a retired attorney from the U.S. state of Oregon. He was the fifth chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, a program of the United States government. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush i ...

, Politician and Professor at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

Joseph Siravo Joseph Siravo (March 11, 1955 – April 11, 2021) was an American actor, producer, and educator. He acted on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning productions of ''Oslo'' and '' The Light in the Piazza''. His roles in film and television included ...

, actor with ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'' and ''

Jersey Boys ''Jersey Boys'' is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and eventual break-up of th ...

'' National Tour''

Discography

*''Untitled'' (1964) * ''Untitled'' (1965) *''A Fellow Needs a Girl'' (1966) *''Untitled'' (1967) *''Untitled'' (1969) *''Untitled'' (1973) *''Untitled'' (1975) *''Untitled'' (1977) *''Untitled'' (1979) *''Clean-Cut and Slightly Frayed'' (1981) *''Somewhere in Hawaii'' (1982) *''Take You Back'' (1986) *''Pretending to Care'' (1987) *''Aquapella'' (1989) *''Just Like That'' (1991) *''Feline Casanova'' (1992) *''Back For Seconds'' (1994) *''Beggars Can't Be Choosers'' (1996) *''Besides What You See'' (1998) *''Room to Grow'' (2000) *''Best Laid Plans'' (2002) *''Mendication'' (2004) *''Beggar's Dozen'' (2006) *''Roses In My Hand'' (2008) *''Sh-Boom'' (2012) *''Just a Group of Guys'' (2013) *''Mendicants At Large'' (2015) *''For the Long Haul'' (2018) *''Trailblazer'' (2019) *''Detour'' (2021)

Awards and nominations

, - , rowspan="3" , 1992 , rowspan="3" , Contemporary A Cappella Society#Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards, Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards , Best Male Collegiate Album , ''Just Like That'' , style="background: #F4F2B0" , , rowspan="3" , , - , Best Male Collegiate Song , "Long Train Runnin'" , style="background: #F4F2B0" , , - , Best Male Collegiate Arrangement , "Brown Eyed Girl" , style="background: #F4F2B0" , , - , rowspan="3" , 1999 , rowspan="3" , Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards , Best Male Collegiate Album , ''Besides What You See'' , style="background: #F4F2B0" , , , - , Best Male Collegiate Song , "Drive" , , rowspan="2" , , - , Best Male Collegiate Soloist , Brandon Singleton , , - , 2001 , Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards , Best Male Collegiate Song , "Happy Together" , , , - , 2005 , Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards , Best Male Collegiate Song , "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" from ''Mendication'' , , , - , rowspan="2" , 2019 , Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards , Best Male Collegiate Song , "Control" from ''For the Long Haul'' , , , - , A Cappella Video Awards , Best Male Collegiate Video , "Kiss the Sky" , style="background: #F4F2B0" , ,

ICCA results

The

International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA), originally the National Championship of Collegiate A Cappella ("NCCA", a play on NCAA), is an international competition that attracts hundreds of college ''a cappella'' groups each ye ...

(ICCA) first judged live a cappella performance competitions in 1996.

References

External links

Stanford Mendicants Official WebsiteStanford Mendicants YouTube
{{authority control Collegiate a cappella groups

Mendicants A mendicant (from la, mendicans, "begging") is one who practices mendicancy, relying chiefly or exclusively on alms to survive. In principle, mendicant religious orders own little property, either individually or collectively, and in many ins ...

Musical groups established in 1963