Gospel music, somber dancing and light-hearted musical ditties filled the audience with inspiration during Taylor's 2025 Homecoming Concert.
On Friday Oct. 3, music lovers were invited to enjoy diverse songs and forms of artistry highlighting themes of vision and prophecy.
Taylor kicks off each Homecoming Weekend in the Fall semester by showcasing faculty and student musicians and artists through its Homecoming Collage Concert hosted at Rediger Chapel.
This year’s concert greeted returning Taylor families, faculty and students with Taylor’s Drumline, which often performs for football games. The Wind Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Musical Theatre, Chorale and Sounds Chamber Ensemble followed. A student performer was featured after each group’s performance.
Among the Musical Theatre performances was a trio of musical theatre majors: juniors Grace Bradshaw and TJ Fausnight and sophomore Milo Guevara. They were accompanied on the piano by Sheila Todd and performed “I Wish I Could Go Back to College” from “Avenue Q.” Guevara enjoyed offering a light-hearted staging to the concert selection.
Multiple musical theatre students performed more than one feature within the performance. Students had rehearsals for multiple showcases, balancing hectic schedules in preparation for the Homecoming Concert.
“We had a tight turn around from the recent play ‘The Glass Menagerie,’" Guevara said. “Sometimes we were rehearsing at the tail end of Shrek rehearsals.”
Guevara was featured in Taylor Theatre’s performance of “I’m a Believer” and will play Donkey in the upcoming production of “Shrek the Musical.”
Finally, Taylor Chorale and Sounds also performed.
The theme of the music was “transformation,” representing visionary figures, Reed Spencer, Music, Theatre and Dance department co-chair and associate professor of music and director of the Chorale, said. The themes foreshadow Chorale performances to come, he said.
Spencer was impressed by the students’ dedication to their artwork.
“Students worked really hard to not only learn it, but to learn to listen to one another and to sing together,” he said.
Their most complex and deceptively simple piece was “Prayer.” The piece requires performers to attentively listen to and receive the pitches of fellow Chorale members. Spencer intended all the songs to cover prophecy. They began with “Ezekiel” and ended with the gospel piece “John the Revelator.”
Speeches about unity and vision by Tracy Manning, assistant professor of theatre arts and managing and artistic director of theatre, interspersed ensemble pieces. Manning was “eloquent” and “poised,” sophomore multimedia journalism major Sadie Maples said.
“I enjoyed seeing the music and performances because I don’t often get to experience the arts within my major,” she said. “I love journalism, but it’s not often I get to watch a ballet.”
