“Through the air there’s a calling / From far away / There’s a voice I can hear / That will lead me home”—these were sophomore Sophia Welch’s favorite lines from “The Road Home,” one of the songs she sang at the first in-person choir concert on Oct. 7.
“It felt really amazing to be back on stage, singing for other people again,” Welch said. “I had forgotten how much excitement being on stage gives me.”
Welch said she loved her solo in the concert for the song, “The Road Home.” For her, the song’s message was about finding the way back together after the pandemic.
“It felt really empowering to be able to express [that] message,” Welch said. “I remember all through the pandemic being told that the end is coming and we will all be together again, and sometimes I felt that that may never happen. But choir, and that promise of singing, really became my voice in the dark.”
Welch began taking voice lessons at seven, but she had been singing for her family even before that. Her fondest memory of singing is her first voice recital.
“I was eight and really nervous. All I remember was the applause that came after I’d finished and [feeling proud] of myself and what I had accomplished,” Welch said.
At the age of eight, Welch began acting, and today is in multiple theater programs, including Statesmen Theatre. She said musical theater initially prompted her to try acting.
“It was a way for me to sing, which I loved, so I started acting as well,” Welch said.
Welch said both acting and singing are personal to her.
“With singing, I can express myself in ways I can’t in everyday life, [but] acting is also very personal because when you perform, you have to incorporate pieces of yourself into the character and how you interpret the text,” Welch said. “Both singing and acting give me a lot of excitement and I try my best to put my full effort into both.”
For Sophia Welch, the next challenge will be playing the character Peaseblossom in Marshall Theatre’s November production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”