In the absence of “The Sing Off”, a choir and a cappella casting show called “Die grosse Chance der Chöre” took place in Austria and was won by all male a cappella group named Piccanto, earning them a deal with SONY and nationwide fame. We had a chance to interview the lads:

First of all, for the people who might not know you please tell us a little bit about your group and your musical backgrounds.

Piccanto is an accapella-boyband consisting of seven young men (aged 18-20). We were founded in 2010 in Salzburg’s BG3 musical school, where each of us recieved a profound musical education. We started off as a classical male choir, but soon we expanded our repertoire with modern jazz- and pop-literature. After finishing school, we managed to continue our work together although by now our members have taken up studies in Vienna, Linz and Amsterdam.

You recently won a music casting show with special focus on choirs and a cappella groups on national TV in Austria. Tell us about your journey during this time.

When we heard about this show being hosted, we were not really interested in participating. No one of us had any experience with TV performances, and we were a little bit scared of embarrassing ourselves. But when our Beatboxer Raphael Lipp just signed us up for the show (without even waiting for our agreement), we knew we would have to try our best and started practicing. Although we estimated our chances pretty low, we managed to get through the first three rounds and into the finals. Having noticed that those months of concentrated work brought us closer together and gave us new perspectives as a group gave us the will to continue that path and perform convincingly in the last performance.

Ever since winning the show, what has changed for you as a group and / or individuals?

Of course, every one of us is now investing much more time in our project than before. Right after winning the show, we went on to record our first album, „seven“, starring 12 cover versions of our favourite pop songs. The amount of gigs we perform has risen, as well as the rehearsal and preperation time. In those few months since our success, we have done everything to keep the ball rolling, and it has worked out pretty well.

What do you think will the future hold for Piccanto?

We are going to do our best to broaden our repertoire, enhance our vocal possibilities and do everything else to make our music more exciting and interesting. We want to sing as much as possible, and for as many people as possible. Our goal is to become a well-known and renowned acapella group that makes music for the people.

More about the group here: http://www.piccanto.at/