Drexel-Penn A Cappella Sing-Off Brings a New Battle of 33rd Street
From left to right: students from Penn’s Counterparts organization (in black and white clothes); and Drexel’s Cleftomaniacs (red shirts); Drexel Dhvani (blue shirts); TrebleMakers (green shirts); 8 to the Bar (black shirts); and Youngmoo Kim, PhD.
In recent years, the men’s and women’s basketball teams from Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania play against each other in the Battle of 33rd Street. That annual tradition began over a century ago, but the 2025 event has a new element of friendly rivalry: a musical concert.
The Drexel-Penn A Cappella Sing-Off was held this year on Nov. 14, just after the women’s game on Nov. 12 (the Dragons beat the Quakers 72–55) and a week before the men’s game on Nov. 21 (Penn beat Drexel, 84–68). The Battles of 33rd Street are also part of the Big 5, so this may not be the last time these teams face each other in 2025. During the concert, six student a cappella organizations — four from Drexel and two from Penn — performed songs, arrangements and medleys.
“The games and this concert are a way to highlight our University community and the impact our students have on our city,” said Drexel’s Vice Provost for University and Community Partnerships Youngmoo Kim, PhD. He was inspired to create the event from his own experiences performing in collegiate a cappella groups, and he also helped organize and sponsor it through the Office of University and Community Partnerships.
There wasn’t any voting, judging or even a defined winner — but in terms of numbers, more Drexel students and student groups were involved.
The participating organizations were:
- Cleftomaniacs (Drexel)
- Drexel Dhvani (Drexel)
- 8 to the Bar (Drexel)
- TrebleMakers (Drexel)
- Counterparts (Penn)
- The Pennchants (Penn)
Each group performed songs from a variety of musical genres and decades. Leaders from the Drexel student organizations introduced each performance, and the sound mixing board, sound reinforcement and lighting were managed by Dragons as well.
“Drexel students contribute greatly to the sporting and cultural life of Philadelphia, just as Drexel contributes to the city’s ecosystem. I hope these events also help our neighbors build a sense of affinity with Drexel and see that we’re part of the life of the city,” said Kim.
Some of those groups had competed against and/or sang together, but not in a Drexel-Penn event like this. For example, the Cleftomaniacs have competed against Penn a cappella groups and Drexel’s TrebleMakers, but it can be hard to find the time to perform with groups outside of Drexel, according to its president Maya Pasternack, music industry ’27 with a business administration minor from the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.
“We thought this event would be a great way to not only increase our performance experience but to also showcase some school spirit,” she said.
Drexel Dhvani also had performed alongside Penn groups in recent years and welcomed the chance to sing again alongside Drexel groups, said co-captain Madhumita Kannan, BS public health ’26/MPH ’27 from the Dana and David Dornsife School of Public Health, with minors in business administration, health data analytics and health services administration.
“We love performing with the other teams on campus and collaborating with other schools’ a cappella teams. It's so fun to hear everyone's lovely voices and creative arrangements!” she said.
While the basketball games switch venues every year, the 2025 battles were held at Drexel’s Daskalaskis Athletic Center (DAC) — and the Drexel-Penn A Capella Sing-Off was also held at Drexel, in the Main Building auditorium. It’s the same stage where some of the groups had previously participated in the Drexel-hosted International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) Mid-Atlantic regionals competitions, and where they will soon compete in a 2026 ICCA event this February.
The Cleftomaniacs, for example, are practicing for this year’s ICCA competition in part by participating the Drexel-Penn A Cappella Sing-Off. The three songs sung by 12 members of the group were “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish, “Jericho” by Iniko and a mashup of “Motive” by Ariana Grande and “Promiscuous” by Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland.
Drexel Dhvani is also preparing for a competition — the Association of South-Asian A Capella (ASA) — and regularly practices vocals and choreography in the Main Building auditorium and other locations on campus. For the Nov. 14 Sing-Off, 11 members from the group performed two South Asian fusion arrangements that they’ll also sing in the upcoming competition season.
At the event, 11 members of 8 to the Bar, Drexel’s all-male a cappella group, performed a holiday song medley as well as “Mamma Mia” by ABBA and “With or Without You” by U2 (the latter song inspired audience members to sway in their seats and raise their phone flashlights like lighters). They’ll be performing with a cappella groups from Temple University and St. Joseph’s University at a concert at Drexel on Nov. 21, which is also the release date of the group’s EP “Leave of Absence.”
The evening ended with performances of “California” by Chappell Roan and “Path” by Lorde from 15 members of the last Drexel group, the all-female TrebleMakers. The group’s president, Shailly Verma, a public health major in the Dana and Dornsife School of Public Health, worked with Kim, the Drexel vice provost, to put on the event and enlist student organizations to participate; Verma is also the co-chair for civic engagement for Drexel’s Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA).
“I think college a cappella is an amazing art form and a great way of building student and university community,” said Kim, who has graduate and undergraduate degrees in both engineering and music from Stanford University and Swarthmore College. He performed with student a cappella groups at both institutions, competed in the finals of the first-ever ICCA championship at Lincoln Center in 1996 (with the Stanford Fleet Street Singers), and now music directs his current group, The Tonics, who recently released an EP, “Port.”
Kim was inspired to start this event because of his own collegiate performances in “Big Game Sing-Off,” which he described as “an a cappella concert featuring Stanford and UC Berkeley groups in the lead up to the annual Stanford-Cal football game.”
With the success of this year’s Drexel-Penn A Cappella Sing-Off and the regular rotation of the Battle of 33rd Street basketball games, this new a cappella competition could be included in the 2026 lineup.