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Alyssa Stone
Alto
Music Co-Director, Social Media Manager Member since August 2021 Solos: One Last Drink, Don't You Want Me, Uptones Funk, All You Wanted Alyssa is a New Jersey native who moved to Chicago in 2014 from Miami, FL (in a polar vortex!) after completing her undergraduate degrees in music therapy, music education, and psychology at the University of Miami. She now runs a thriving music therapy practice in the western suburbs of Chicago and is pursuing a Ph.D at Colorado State University.
Alyssa joined The Uptones to bring the joy of singing back to herself! She sings every day at work, and was so excited for the opportunity to make music for fun again. She has been singing since age 8 and has been an avid a cappella-er since high school; she traveled the US with youth a cappella group, the Rock 'n' Roll chorus from 2007-2009. At the University of Miami, Alyssa was a frequent soloist and business manager of BisCaydence. Outside of work and The Uptones, Alyssa loves binge watching TV dramas, makeup, and spending time with her husband and their pup, Rey! |
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Annie MitranSoprano
Music Co-Director Member since April 2017 Solos: One Fine Day, That's the Way It Is, Bye Bye Bye (Boy Bandpalooza), Go the Distance (Disney Medley), Something in the Water, Sing, Want You Back, It's All Coming Back to Me Now, Traitor, Rihanna Medley Arrangements: Uptones Funk Annie grew up in Chicago, and she’s excited to be back in town feeling the Uptones funk. In college, Annie sang with the Harvard–Radcliffe Veritones. Now a lawyer by day, Annie just couldn’t stay away from a cappella. Oh hai, doggies!
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Benas Alčauskas
Bass
Member since December 2022 Benas is an alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he sang in No Strings Attached. He is a very direct man who has a general distaste for writing bios.
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Danielle Ross
Mezzo-Soprano
Snashial Committee Member since January 2023 Solos: Flowers, What Was I Made For? Arrangements: Movin' Out/Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Originally from Gurnee, IL, Danielle moved to Chicago in 2018 to attend DePaul University and has been living in Chicago ever since. She is a proud alum of the female- and nonbinary-identifying a cappella group Take Note DePaul. Danielle was a member of the group for all four years of her undergrad, serving as Public Relations and Advertising Director for one year and as Music Director for two years. She has spent many years of her life singing, playing piano or guitar, and arranging music. Her dream musical theater role is Donna from Mamma Mia!.
In her free time, she loves to go thrifting with coffee in hand, spend too much money on seeing musicals, or hang out with her black cat, Strawberry, and her partner, Karymé. |
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Ethan McMahonTenor
Member since September 2013 Solos: Be Alright, I'll Make Love to You (Boy Bandpalooza), I'll Be There, Waving Through a Window, Go the Distance (Disney Medley), Cages, Love Yourself, Don't, Story of My Life, Say Something, Man in the Mirrors, First Try, Stickwitu Ethan is an alumnus of Washington University in St. Louis, and of their award-winning co-ed a cappella group Mosaic Whispers. He is a computer programmer, and dislikes writing bios.
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Gabe Severance
Baritone
Member since July 2023 Solos: Music for a Sushi Restaurant Having grown up in Lincoln Park, Gabe returned to Chicago after graduating from the University of Michigan, where he sang as a member of the co-ed group DJs A Cappella. In his time with the DJs, he was business manager, music director, and occasionally their pitch pipe. They competed in ICCA (yes, the competition from Pitch Perfect), where they placed 2nd, 1st, and 2nd at their respective quarterfinals.
By day, Gabe works as a software engineer at a consulting firm, and by night, he works as a board instructor (and soon to be catcher) for a trapeze school in the city (Get a Grip Trapeze). He loves to soar through the air almost as much as he loves his kitty, Cinnamon. |
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Hallie Parrott
Soprano
Snashial Committee Member since January 2023 Solos: Upside Down Hallie is originally from Annapolis, MD, but recently moved to Chicago (quarter-life crisis era) after six years of living in Boston. She attended Emerson College where she was a member of Acappellics Anonymous. She grew up singing, dancing, and acting, and is so excited to be able to sing again with such a great group!
In her free time, Hallie enjoys a craft cocktail, long walks around Target, the gym, and watching trash reality TV. |
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Isabella Mancini
Alto/Tenor
Member since November 2021 Solos: Hallelujah I Love Her So Isabella was raised in Chicago and has been singing for as long as she could make mouth noises. In high school, she sang in an award-winning chamber choir and was perfectly typecast as Rizzo in Grease. She went on to McGill University in Montréal, QC, where she sang in Tonal Ecstasy and learned that she thrives as a tenor.
By day, Isabella is a licensed clinical social worker, and she currently manages a housing program for folks coming out of homelessness from shelters and encampments. She also does community organizing with multiple grassroots organizations in Chicago working towards prison abolition and supporting LGBTQ people re-entering from incarceration. She loves vegan junk food, family dramedy television series, playing drums, and making candles. She is also a regular at karaoke bars around Chicago. |
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Jim MoureyTenor/Baritone
Member since September 2013 Solos: Carry Me Through, Addicted, Under the Sea (Disney Medley), Let Me Down Easy, Not Over You, Morning Comes, Man in the Mirrors, Story of My Life, Run Away to Mars Arrangements: Cages, Carry Me Through, Man in the Mirrors, Free to Be Me, Story of My Life, Call Your Girlfriend, Love Me Like You Do, Love Yourself, I Choose You, Little Talks, Nobody Love, Addicted, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, I'll Be There, Waving Through a Window, Let Me Down Easy, Pompeii, Iris, How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You), Unholy, What Was I Made For? Born to a Spanish mother and a French father, Jim often pretends he hails from the tiny principality of Andorra, which is nestled in the Pyrenees between Spain and France. However, he is actually from the city of Belleville, IL, the town with the longest official Main Street in the world (9.2 miles, if you’re wondering). Jim’s family is one of those musical, von Trapp kinds of families, except they do not speak German and there are no Nazis… that he knows of. He learned to play piano by ear in the summer of 1994 and, as such, considers himself forever indebted to the Swedish group Ace of Base, whose popular songs at the time led him on a path of singer-songwriter stardom. A veteran of musicals, show choir, undergrad (The Stereotypes) and grad school (The CEOhs) a cappella groups, Jim did not hesitate when his pal Jen encouraged him to audition for The Uptones, a group started by the same folks with whom he started his grad school group. He did not realize how awesome and talented his new friends would be until he met them, but now that he knows them, well, he just can’t seem to get enough of them.
Outside of the group, Jim is a professor, a marketing guru, an improv actor, and an avid traveler, often to Italy, where he is known as pop music megastar Giuseppe Salvatore. |
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Joe Dennis
Baritone/Vocal Percussion
Member since March 2022 Solos: Don't You Want Me, We Don't Talk Anymore (duet), Do You Wanna Do Nothing With Me? Arrangements: Upside Down (treble), Upside Down (bass) Joe grew up in Oak Park, IL, and graduated from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in 2020, where he started an a cappella group in college called Identity Crisis that’s still going strong!
He received training from some of the leading a cappella experts at A Cappella Academy in 2015 and 2016. Apart from The Uptones, Joe is a member of the Connexion wedding band and teaches piano and voice at School of Rock. |
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Kevin Schaefer
Baritone
Member since June 2022 Solos: Traitor, Unholy (duet) Kevin grew up north of Atlanta, GA and went to school in Ohio at the University of Dayton. He moved to Columbus, OH after graduating, where he sang with the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus and their auditioned ensemble, Vox. He has made singing a part of his life since middle school, participating in every musical he could and joining high school choir.
When not singing, he currently works as a Senior Auditor in the insurance industry, and he's also part of a kickball team where he minimally contributes. Kevin is so excited to be part of The Uptones and to have music become part of his life again in a new way! |
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Korina Stelzenmueller
Soprano
Member since July 2023 Korina is a Jersey girl who moved to Chicago to complete her Master's in Prosthetics and Orthotics, but she ended up falling in love with the city and decided to stay! She attended The College of New Jersey, where she was a member of their all-female a cappella group, the Treblemakers. Korina has loved a cappella since high school, and even started her own group, The Rhinotes, which unfortunately disbanded when she moved to Chicago, RIP. Korina has been performing since she was six years old, so she is very excited to be able to sing again with such a fun and talented group.
In her free time, Korina enjoys trying new restaurants, getting too invested in bad reality TV, spending time near bodies of water, and hanging out with her boyfriend and their pup, Bongo! |
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Lena MaldonadoMezzo-Soprano
Member since January 2024 Lena grew up in Fenton, MI where she was always a band/theatre/choir kid. She attended college at the University of Michigan and sang in an all-female a cappella group, the Harmonettes. After a few years in Wisconsin, Lena moved to Chicago and is very excited to be singing again!
Outside of work as an IT Project Manager, Lena enjoys reading, cooking, and trivia nights. |
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Maria CholackAlto
Member since October 2023 Maria grew up in Northville, MI and went to school in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan where she sang with one of their oldest a cappella groups, the Harmonettes. She moved to Cincinnati, OH after graduating but recently moved to her favorite city, Chicago! Having grown up singing, she participated in several choirs and a cappella groups (with the occasional musical, too). Maria is joining The Uptones to bring singing back into her life.
Maria works as a Senior Manager in analytics and insights. In her free time (when not singing), she loves attending musicals and comedy shows, reading, and being overly competitive at game night. |
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Rod Braga
Baritone
Member since August 2021 Solos: One Last Drink, Upside Down (duet), You've Got a Friend Arrangements: Hallelujah I Love Her So, We Don't Talk Anymore, You've Got a Friend Rod is a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern University. He was raised in a musical family and used to play music professionally before grad school. While attending Harvard, he was a member of Boston's VoiceLab a cappella group.
Singing and harmonizing is his main love, but Rod is also a guitarist and is learning to play the piano. He has a handful of albums of original material which he wrote and recorded in the UK, which you can listen to on his website. |
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Taryn SkodaAlto
Business Co-Manager Member since January 2015 Solos: Love Me Less, Pony, How Will I Know, Diane, Colors of the Wind (Disney Medley), Rock Bottom, Hello, Bad Blood (Taylor Swift Medley), Chandelier, We Don't Talk Anymore (duet), You Go Down Smooth, Made You Look, Unholy (duet) Taryn originally hails from Cleveland, OH. She has been singing as long as she can remember — as the daughter of a choir director, she was often called upon to sing solos and various vocal parts to assist her mother. She has participated in many choirs (classical, contemporary, and show choir) over the years, including the DePaul Community Chorus. She attended Indiana University (HOO! HOO! HOO! HOOSIERS!) and received her bachelor's in Theatre and French.
After moving to the Windy City, Taryn completed her master's in Early Childhood Special Education. She is currently a Special Education Kindergarten Teacher and Developmental Therapist. Taryn loves the theatre and has been an active thespian since elementary school and still performs to this day in various Chicagoland productions. She thanks her fellow Hoosier and Uptones alumnus Steve Boblak for introducing her to The Uptones... although she only came to learn he was in an a cappella group when he had a concert the same night as her classical choir. |
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Thor McGinnisBaritone/Bass/Vocal Percussion
Webmaster Member July 2010–June 2014, July 2015–Present Solos: Ocean Avenue, Closer, Stitches, Homegrown, Everywhere You Look/Full House (TV Medley), Story of My Life, I Want It That Way ('90s Medley), Just a Kiss, High and Dry, How to Save a Life, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You), Upside Down (duet), This Is Me (DCOM Medley), Movin' Out (Anthony's Song) Arrangements: Need You Now, Just a Kiss, Odds Are, This Is What It Feels Like, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Closer, Indigo, That's the Way It Is, The Sound of Silence Thor grew up all around the Midwest and, growing (mostly) done, attended Northwestern University, where he majored in film and sang with co-ed a cappella group Extreme Measures. He's currently the longest-serving member of The Uptones.
When he’s not singing, he works as a copywriter for an ad agency. When he’s not doing that, he’s probably surfing the Internet, cycling, writing movie scripts, or working on his own original music. He lives in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood with his husband, Robert (also a singer, with the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus); their two cats, Apollo and Artemis; and their beloved in-unit washer/dryer. |