It started with friendship and work and a bit of serendipity. And talent, of course. We can’t forget the talent.
Central Florida a cappella singing group Voctave celebrates its 10th anniversary with an Oct. 25 concert in Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando. The ensemble will be joined by special guests Sandi Patty and Jody McBrayer, and Voctave founder Jamey Ray promises “something really special.”
The numbers speak to the group’s popularity: More than 100 songs recorded, 12 albums released, more than 200 concerts across 150 cities in 39 states, France and Japan. Its 2016 video performing Ray’s “Disney Love Medley” has racked up 35 million views on YouTube. You read that right: 35 million.
And it all began right here.
In 2014, Ray assembled singers to work on a recording project.
“All of us worked in town, or at Disney,” he recalls.
Ray was teaching at Rollins College, his alma mater, where music technology was part of his instructional responsibilities. As luck would have it, he had just picked up some equipment for work before arriving at the recording studio.
“I had bought a new video camera for Rollins, and I didn’t want to leave it in the car, so I brought it into the studio,” he remembers. He ended up trying it out by recording the singers. That simple recording of the “Disney Fly Medley,” including “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from “Mary Poppins” and “You Can Fly!” from “Peter Pan,” was shared by the Huffington Post and went viral.
Voctave — though it wasn’t yet named — was on its way.
A nostalgic sound
That early ensemble would shift and change over time as the group found its vibe and developed its sound. Eventually, the number of singers settled at 11 — “As weird as that number is, it’s our number,” Ray says with a laugh. And its sound became one of Disney songs, showtunes, jazz.
“It’s a very nostalgic sound,” says Ray, who compares the lush harmonies to the music heard on classic Disney movie scores. “A 3-year-old, a 23-year-old, an 83-year-old and everyone in between leans into this sound.”
Voctave is pictured performing in Japan, where the group received an enthusiastic welcome, according to founder-arranger Jamey Ray. (Courtesy Voctave)
So how did the name come about?
The group caught the eye of Kristin Maldonado, a singer with already-successful a cappella group Pentatonix, who “reached out and wanted to do something with us,” Ray says.
The result was the “Disney Love Medley,” arranged like all Voctave’s music by Ray. It also featured guest singer Jeremy Michael Lewis, who could see that the group’s future was bright. He was shocked to hear that the ensemble didn’t have a consistent lineup or a name.
“Enough of all that,” is how Ray recalls his reaction. “When this video comes out, people are going to want to look you up.”
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So on Oct. 18, 2015, the name Voctave was officially introduced. Then, the “Love Medley came out in February 2016, and that was when our lives changed overnight,” Ray says.
People were definitely looking them up.
Still, Ray envisioned Voctave as a studio group.
“It took about a year to realize people wanted to hear us live,” he says.
There was only one problem: Ray’s arrangements had the singers recording multiple tracks.
“I was writing every note known to man into the songs because we never thought we’d be singing live,” he says. “I was writing more notes than we had people.”
Once touring arrangements of the songs were sorted out, the group was ready to go.
Local permission
In 2018, Voctave got a booking agent to set up gigs, thanks to an assist from John Sinclair, Ray’s colleague at Rollins College and artistic director of the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park.
“The first time I heard Voctave sing and experienced Jamey Ray’s brilliant arrangements, I knew this group had world-class potential. Now fast forward 10 years, and I couldn’t be prouder to call them friends and colleagues,” Sinclair says. “Both as people and musicians, they are magnificent.”
Ray says the group owes a huge debt to Sinclair’s unwavering support; for example, this month’s anniversary concert will be presented by the Bach Festival Society.
Jamey Ray (left) and fellow Voctave member E.J. Cardona sing with Rachel Potter at Potter’s Aug. 25 concert at the Renaissance Theatre in Orlando. Ray and Potter have been friends since childhood. (Courtesy Jake Pearce via Renaissance Theatre Co.)
But touring came to a halt in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the entertainment industry.
“The pandemic just about ruined us,” Ray says. “We had a whole year of great things lined up, and then it all fell apart.”
The group pivoted back to recording and released an album instead.
But some of Ray’s favorite Voctave memories are of its concerts — going all the way back to the first one.
It was at Rollins College, and the group took the stage in the dark, with the lights scheduled to illuminate as the singers began the first song.
“It was a moment when we thought, ‘Are we really going to sing all this music live? Can we do this?” recalls Ray. If the singers had a moment of hesitation, the crowd was definitely ready.
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“The room was packed, and people were screaming and they would not stop,” he says. “We couldn’t start the song, so we just stood there in the dark!”
Other moments stand out, as well: An ovation in Nashville, where concertgoers leapt to their feet after a rousing performance of “The Impossible Dream.” And a tour of Japan that showed good music is universal.
“We didn’t know if people were going to come, we didn’t know if they would like the music,” Ray says. “We couldn’t have imagined the reception we got, especially in Tokyo — a sold-out house, our biggest audience ever. … I get choked up talking about it.”
Celebratory concert
Seven of the 11 singers have been with Voctave since the beginning, and an eighth joined shortly after the group’s formation a decade ago. They have shared numerous celebrations through the years, including the birth of four babies to members.
When singer E.J. Cardona found out his wife was expecting, he came to Ray’s house “and pulled out a onesie that said ‘Voctave Baby,’” Ray recalls. “I about lost it.”
One of singer Ashley Espinoza’s sons even guested on a Voctave Christmas album.
The guest artists at the approaching celebratory anniversary concert are special because they have recorded with Voctave remotely — but never sung live with them. McBrayer, best known for his work with Christian pop group Avalon, will solo on “Someone Like You,” a song he recorded with Voctave in 2016. Patty will take the lead on “Beauty and the Beast,” a song she recorded with Voctave in 2017.
“While we are thrilled, we are also terrified,” jokes Ray.
Other special features of the Oct. 25 concert include the chance for audience members to request their favorite songs. There will also be a question-and-answer segment.
At first, Voctave was planned as a studio-only group. But its live performances have proven extremely popular. (Courtesy Voctave)
“If you want to know if [soprano Kate Lott] has ever broken glass with her high notes, this is your chance to find out,” Ray says.
And the concert promises to be extra-special for the singers themselves.
“Just about every song in the show is somebody in the group’s favorite,” he says.
Gratitude remains
As Voctave has taken more of his time, Ray has traded his position at Rollins, where he was a professor of music technology, theory and ensembles, for a job with Excelcia Music Publishing. He left Rollins in 2024 after 15 years because he could take his work as a music editor for Excelcia on the road when he travels with Voctave.
“I miss teaching theory, I’m such a music-theory nerd,” he says of leaving Rollins. “I liked getting people excited about the basic building blocks of music.”
Ray still can’t quite believe the level of success that Voctave has achieved. And he remains exceedingly grateful that he just happened to have a video camera with him that day back in 2014.
“If we hadn’t taken that video,” he says, “I don’t think any of this would have happened.”
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Voctave
What: 10th-anniversary concert, presented by the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, with guests Sandi Patty and Jody McBrayer
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25
Where: Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave. in Orlando
Cost: $35.40 and up
Info: drphillipscenter.org
Originally Published: October 14, 2025 at 5:01 AM EDT