The very name “Whiffenpoofs” is whimsical, but followers of the collegiate music space know that the repertoire and reputation of this Yale University a cappella group is anything but laughable. Sure there are old Yale drinking songs, certainly a bit of jazz-era energy, as well as more modern pop. But are they classical? And what exactly is a “whiffenpoof” anyway?
It seems to have become the word of the year among the smart set around 1909, whether its origin was an onstage ad-lib or secret society mumbo-jumbo. Naturally it became the name of the Yale University a cappella group that formed in 1909. It quickly became the most esteemed such group on the Ivy League university’s campus, and that was saying something.
“A cappella is a huge culture here,” said Tabatha Mireya Stewart, a member of the 2025 Whiffenpoofs on tour this year. She was speaking from New Haven, Connecticut, where the singing group was about to launch a West Coast tour.
“We have 17 official groups as well as a bunch of other unofficial groups” of a cappella performers, Stewart said. “At the beginning of every year they have something called the ‘a cappella rush’—it’s such a big tradition that actual fraternities and sororities had to move their rush to the spring, because they were losing too many people to the a cappella rush.”
Over time the Whiffenpoofs became the very definition of the fraternal a cappella club, singing their multiphonic blend of liturgical choir exercise, Irish ballads, English drinking songs, American folk tunes and chamber jazz. And not surprisingly, material by Cole Porter—himself a Whiffenpoof in their earliest years. There are no instruments, aside from the voices of the 14 members of the group and their snapping fingers.
Until 2018, the Whiffenproofs never had a female member, but eventually the arc of history relented. Now they have four on the stage, including Healdsburg’s own Tabatha Stewart. Her stage career started when she went to St. John the Baptist school here in town, and her first performances were on the Raven stage. She graduated from Sonoma Academy in 2022, but when she went to Yale it wasn’t for a career in the arts.
”I was originally a molecular biophysics and biochemistry major,” she said. “But I’ve always had a sort of passion for music.” When she showed up in New Haven that passion may have shown through, because she was recruited during that freshman a cappella rush.
In our brief conversation she described the competitive world of a cappella at Yale, where each class has its own hierarchy of respected groups, and the challenge of breaking into one in a collegiate culture that is still in the midst of change. She came back to Healdsburg two years ago as part of the touring Spizzwinks, a vocal group of underclassmen (or persons). She downplays her role as a woman in the Whiffenpoofs on tour this year, but points out, “This is actually the first year that we have a woman in leadership. Our Pitchpipe or our musical director is Eunice Oh, the first woman in leadership in all of history, which is really cool.”
Eunice Oh is listed as “Pitchpipe”—the other Whiffenpoof officer is “Popocatepatl,” the business manager. It all sounds Very New England, but the Whiffenpoofs present a reliably entertaining evening of vocal music. Other traditions are bending as well: Tabatha Stewart is not only female, but a junior in the traditionally all-male senior group. She’s taking a year off to tour with the Whiffenpoofs, then returning for her senior year to combine her passions for music and molecular engineering.
Until then, she’s a touring Whiffenpoof, performing several times a week. Elsewhere on their tour they play at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, in Berkeley, Palo Alto and Carmel before they reach Healdsburg on Sunday, Oct. 19.
“We mix in a little bit of humor as well, though we’re not super known for our humor these days,” Stewart said, “but rather more our vocal performance.” That includes an international, intergenerational repertoire delivered in perfect pitch, in formal wear.
The Yale Whiffenpoofs perform once at 7pm on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Raven Performing Arts Theater, 115 North St., raventheater.org.
