If you were not in the Slosberg Auditorium Wednesday at 8 p.m., then you missed the opportunity to hear, see, experience and be engulfed in the harmoniously soulful reverie of wavy chord intervals, sailing cadences and vivacious body gyrations of a cappella ecstasy. It was the only time of the year to see all of the University's a cappella groups in one venue, underscoring the creative current that bursts through these walls upon the arrival of the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Arts.

A Cappella Fest 2007 was primarily organized by Starving Artists with all proceeds going to the St. Joseph's Homes for Boys in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I know what you're thinking: "a cappella and charity? The night must have been just one giant, warm and fuzzy bear hug." Well, it was.

But one should not be fooled by these groups' insouciant, fun-loving attitudes while on stage. Making the songs look effortless and sound melodic is a tedious task of mastering the subtleties of arrangement.

I think that there are few who could argue that VoiceMale's performance was not the main attraction at this event. The all-male winner of practically every a cappella award in existence reinforced its boy-band, Hollywood-produced image with Hanson's "Where's the Love," Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put Your Records On," and O.K. Go's "Here it Goes Again."

Up the Octave, an all-girl group, performed a spectacular arrangement of Frou Frou's "Let Go," masterfully conveying the overall feel and sound of the synthesized instrumentation and backing vocals of the actual recording.

Voices of Soul's rendition of Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" was equally impressive. While the the group's powerful voices swelled, pauses and vocal alternations truly took the soloist's performance to another level. Their voices hovered over the audience's heads. The group aptly captured the energy and grandeur of the song.

Rather Be Giraffes ambitiously took on Guster's "Barrel of a Gun," a song whose hand-played drumming and instrumental breaks are especially difficult to mimic. The group recreated these effects with great innovation without sacrificing the song's energy.

Starving Artists also raised the bar for the power of vocal capacity. Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" was just mellow enough not to suffocate soloist Jennie El-Far '07. The group attained a perfect balance between soloist and support. El-Far '07 rose to the occasion of the dazzling falsettos and eccentric rhythm that characterize the song. It was a satisfying performance.

Company B, the only group to spout the sweet tunes of the oldies, was all class. The group is proficient in coordinating the mood and energy of an oldies song with just the right body movements and choreography. The group is filled with talent and unique spice that could easily be seen and heard in its version of "Runaround Sue," a song that featured the crystal clear, silkily strong, melodic tone of soloist Jeremy Bannett '09.

Proscenium offered animatedly fun-loving Broadway show tunes from such plays as Little Shop of Horrors and Avenue Q. The group's performance was among the most entertaining of the night, with unique arrangement tricks that incorporated multiple soloists in a single song.

Jewish Fella a Cappella, an all-male, all-Jewish group, showed how a cappella is done with some real, goofy, Jewish charm. Every voice was right on pitch, and every dance move was, well, cool. Their version of "Shalom Rav" was sweet and peaceful.

Too Cheap for Instruments was a humorous Irish-esque group whose members donned accents while singing their first song, "The Irish Drinking Song" (DaVinci's Notebook's rendition). What was interesting about them was that they were also impressive actors. Their delivery, soft and sweet, was appropriate for the songs they sang, and they were a pleasant group to hear.

A Cappella Fest ended with Starving Artists. It was the close of a true celebration of the arts at Brandeis, bringing together students who skillfully expressed the eclectic styles of their art form.