The Ransom Notes

uchicago a cappella
Members      
Current Members


Caroline Brander
Operations Manager
Hometown: River Forest, IL
Year: 2013
Vocal Part: Second Soprano, Alto
Major: Biology
Member Since: Fall 2010
Superpower: Being tall
Favorite Syllable: Jah nah
Interests: Puzzles, volleyball, cooking, watching disney movies





Hunter Buckworth
Music Director
  • Hometown: Newark, DE
  • Year: 2012
  • Vocal Part: Baritone
  • Major: Law, Letters, and Society
  • Member Since: Autumn, 2008
  • Superpower: The innate ability to coordinate
  • Favorite Syllable: Ah
  • Interests: Short walks, preferably not on the beach.
    Shallow conversation. Being alone. Wearing clothes for weeks at a time. Alienating others. Sarcasm, and puppies.
  • Favorite RN memory:  All of spring tour. Basically, spending all my time with all my favorite people. *Cheesy, but true*



 



Kim Bullock

Marketing
  • Hometown: St. Paul, MN
  • Year: 2013
  • Vocal Part: Alto
  • Major: Cinema and Media Studies
  • Member Since: 2009
  • Superpower: Conjuring items out of thin air, and making awesome things
  • Interests: music, filmmaking, scrapbooking, and Harry Potter!



     





 


Omar Castro
 
  • Hometown: Chicago, IL
  • Alias: Bromar, Fromar, Gomar, Shalomar, Elmomar, etc.
  • Year: 2013
  • Vocal Part: Vocal Percussion/Baritone/Tenor 2
  • Major: Religious Studies?
  • Member Since: January 2011
  • Superpower: Beats
  •  Interested In/Interests: Jesus, Music (drumming, singing, guitar), Soccer, friends


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    Garrett Chado
    Treasurer
     

    • Hometown: Evergreen, CO
    • Alias: The Shadow
    • Year: 2014
    • Vocal Part: Tenor 2
    • Major: Chemistry
    • Member Since: Fall 2010
    • Superpower: I slide like a penguin down mountains
    • Interested In/Interests: Hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, explosions, and getting lost in the woods.





    Matt Chan
    • Hometown: East Brunswick, NJ
    • Alias: Ghetto pitch pipe
    • Year: 2011
    • Vocal Part: Bass
    • Majors: International Studies, Political Science
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2007
    • Superpower: I'm a ninja.
    • Interested In/Interests: Ninja things. And manatees.
    • Favorite Syllable: Mama's mamas
    • Favorite RN memory: Getting serenaded after auditions.




     





    Lauren Fish
    Co-Marketing Director, Co-Tour Manager
    • Hometown: Springfield, OH
    • Alias: Fish
    • Year: 2012
    • Vocal Part: Soprano
    • Major: Fundamentals
    • Member Since: 2009
    • Superpower: Ability to infiltrate secure locations through very small openings/I'm pretty short.
    • Interested In/Interests: Singing, crew, Harry Potter, Shakespeare, and photography.



     







     

     

    Merry Herbst

    • Hometown: Tempe, AZ
    • Alias:
    • Year: 2012
    • Vocal Part: Soprano
    • Major: Comparative Human Development
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2008
    • Superpower: I can read minds.
    • Interested In/Interests: Human Development, ice cweam, hipsters, DINOSAURS, Saoirse McSharry.
    • Favorite Syllable: "When you walk ah-woo..."
    • Favorite RN memory: Walkin to da Arch, we're walkin to da Arch... The St. Louis Arch!



     










    Amanda Jacobson

    • Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
    • Year: 2012
    • Vocal Part: Alto
    • Major: Biological Sciences
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2008
    • Superpower: Making chocolate-chip cookies that are quite tasty.
    • Interested In/Interests: Soccer, musical theatre, the Pittsburgh Penguins
    • Favorite Syllable: pa-da
    • Favorite RN memory: porch songs


     

    Justin Krivda


    • Hometown: Tha' Dirty D
    • Alias: Roshi
    • Year: 2014
    • Vocal Part: Bass
    • Major:
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2010
    • Superpower: 
       Free climbing like a champ
    • Interested In/Interests: Carpentry, sailing, trumpeting, writing, N64, and vibin' on my razor scooter
    • Favorite Syllable:
    • Favorite RN memory: TBD




    Saoirse McSharry

    Hometown: New York, NY
    • Alias: Saoirse Fierce
    • Year: 2010
    • Vocal Part: 2nd Soprano
    • Major: Biological Sciences
    • Member Since: Autumn 2008
    • Superpower: Being Fierce
    • Interested In/Interests: Llamas, science, and Merry Herbst.
    • Favorite Syllable: jin 
    • Favorite RN Memory: The Car of Angels running up during the climax of "Walkin in Memphis" in LaGrange, Georgia during Spring Tour 2009... That and crying tears of joy to the bridge of "Don't You" in recording.











     


    Sam Scarrow
    Assistant Music Director
    • Hometown: Ambler, PA
    • Alias: This website is under construction. Please check back later. (AKA idontknowyet)
    • Year: 2013
    • Vocal Part: Baritone
    • Major: Political Science
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2009
    • Superpower: The ability to make a "that's what she said" out of anything
    • Interested In/Interests: Musical Theater. Political Science. Nutella. Irony. But not Sarcasm.
    • Favorite Syllable: The U-umlaut.
    • Favorite RN memory: When I realized the third sightreading piece was "Duel of the Fates" from Star Wars Episode 1.
       




    Aya Smith


    • Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
    • Alias:
    • Year: 2014
    • Vocal Part: alto
    • Major: Political Science
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2010
    • Superpower: 
      do things with my mind
    • Interested In/Interests: rugby, singing, guitar, piano
    • Favorite Syllable:
    • Favorite RN memory: don't have that many memories yet, but i guess when the RN came to sing to us once we found out we got accepted



     

    Samir Warty
    President
    • Hometown: Freehold, NJ
    • Alias: No Comment...
    • Year: 2013 (Statistics, PhD)
    • Vocal Part: Bass
    • Member Since: 2009
    • Superpower: Inverting singular matrices (uniquely!)
    • Interested In/Interests: Vocal music, Elmo the pug(see img!), statistics, charcuterie
    • Favorite Syllable: Doom ba da cheeba wahyah







     

     

     

     


    Ekrem Yeşilkanal

    • Hometown: Aydin, Turkey
    • Year: 2012
    • Vocal Part: Tenor
    • Major: Biological Sciences
    • Member Since: Autumn, 2008
    • Superpower: The high A! (Also, Turkish cuisine)
    • Interests: Singing, drawing, molecular biology, and pokemon
    • Favorite Syllable: oh
    • Favorite RN memory: It was at the after-party while we were singing a song I don't even know.  I got the B flat for the first time in my career!