By Ethan Rice | Echo
The Euler Atrium is a popular place for students to relax, converse and, from time to time, take a nap between classes and late nights doing homework.
But on Sunday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m., it will be hosting something very different - "Love in Bloom," the Taylor Chorale's spring concert.
The concert will feature a wide repertoire of different music styles - gospel, folk, sacred and contemporary songs. All of the selections are tied together by the central theme, orchestrated by Professor of Music JoAnn Rediger. This spring concert will be her twenty-second since she began directing Chorale in 1996. She believes the message of "Love in Bloom" is intertwined with the purpose of the Chorale.
"The Chorale is about excellence, service and justice," Rediger said. "That's why we go to perform in Pendleton Prison (Pendleton Correctional Facility). It's about being a service, taking music to places where it needs to be heard. The theme is a natural response to the love chapter in 1 Corinthians. It's how we live in community with one another and make a difference."
Chorale student officers senior Micah Meleski and junior Jessica Miller both referred to the same idea that Chorale is not just a performance but a service, a mission of sharing love through music, carried out in particular by their visits to places like Pendleton Correctional Facility.
The venue selected for the concert is also unique, and holds a new opportunity for the student singers to embrace a vastly different stage. The layout of the atrium posed a challenge to Miller, who oversees the arrangement of the performers in concert.
"My job is to get people where they're supposed to go, so that they're in position for songs and look nice," Miller said. "It's a lot harder to visualize because there's so many possibilities. There's more room for creativity, but it's trickier to capture the flow of the show."
The Chorale will be joined by numerous talented musicians, as well as the Woodlan High School Women's Choir, for the performance. Guests are invited to sit wherever they like, as the performers will be spread out over the multiple levels of the atrium to perform music catering to the unique acoustic set up.
Those planning the concert share their enthusiasm for students to attend, not just to be entertained by music and to support their classmates, but to be ministered to and see God's love bloom in a whole new way.
