Gestalt
Gestalt, October 2016
Who are we?
Gestalt is a competitive, all-gender a cappella group. The group was formed in May 2016 by Eion Blanchard and Lizzie Frankenthal at the University of Florida. The group’s founders sought to break the mold of contemporary a cappella with meaningful, avante-garde performances.
Our name comes from the German language, roughly translating to a “unified whole.” The term was first popularized by the psychological school of thought which attempts to provide an explanation for human perception of patterns and forms. Gestalt theory focuses on the intimate interconnection of the parts of a whole, which makes them impossible to be understood without reference to the whole. This concept is more easily understood through the law of closure, where our brain fills in gaps between individual parts of a whole to create a perception of a greater figure, as seen below.
Our Mission
Our mission is to create meaningful music that pushes the boundaries of contemporary a cappella. Though we rely on the individual parts to create the greater whole, united our sound is much greater than that of any single voice.
BOSS 2023
Acatex 2022
SoJam 2019
ICCA South QF 2019
Awards and Accolades
Since its formation in 2016, Gestalt has dominated the competitive contemporary a cappella scene, receiving several awards at events such as ICCA, NACC, and SoJam. Most recently, we placed third in the national a cappella festival, Boston Sings.