On Saturday, April 11, crowds filled up the North Village Community Center to see Te Kalliste, a musical production featuring songs from each of the nine Greek muses representing their philosophies of beauty. Written by senior University Scholars major Annalise Shero for her honors thesis project, the musical blends music, philosophy, and friendship in a stunning reflection of Shero’s education as a whole person: a scholar, an artist, and a friend.
In the beginning of the musical, Eris, the goddess of discord, arrives at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus and presents the apple labeled Te Kalliste: for the most beautiful. Each of the nine muses reflects in turn on what beauty is and how one should respond to it. Shero began her work in her sophomore year at Baylor by filling up journals with ideas, studying Greek myths, the muses, and philosophies of beauty, and developing a creative vision for each muse. Then she began composing, carefully making musical choices that reflect her philosophical message for each muse.
Garrett Woodbury, senior composition major and Shero’s music director, remarked on Shero’s “very diverse” set of compositions which nevertheless “sounds like it’s all supposed to fit together.” In fact, the diversity of Shero’s compositions is no coincidence, but reflects some of her philosophical ideas. She said “By the end of the musical I’ve kind of made the case for dissonance as a form of beauty. It is within clashing voices that we can have conversation.” As Shero’s friend and roommate, I can attest to her personal philosophy that we hold truth in two hands; there is truth in apparent dissonance, and the musical diversity and dissonance in her compositions reflects this belief.
Woodbury pointed to the lyrics in Calliope as another testament to the integration of Shero’s ideas and her music. The lyrics read, “Restless souls, how will we find our way, wandering lost, far from home. Odysseus captain braving, wide ocean, waves all around, crashing down.” He notes that “the meter is this 6/8 lilty feel, which makes it feel like you’re on a ship.”
As Shero continued to compose, making musical choices with care, her friendships played a significant role in her process. Senior Peyton Louise Robuck recalled that “[Annalise] would be playing us… the Muse Score [composition software] in sometimes skeletal parts… and you kind of saw the skin coming on the bones.” Woodbury began working with Shero in Dr. Taylor’s orchestration class in the fall of 2025, where they “became closer on a musical level” as he watched her develop her compositions and gave her feedback.
When rehearsals started, it felt like the culmination of years of friendship. Each week, we set aside our schoolwork, worries about the future, and, for some of us, our own theses, and met together to make music. Like our friendships, our rehearsals started out a little awkward and unsure. But we were patient and listened to each other, and over time, we learned what we sound like, what to listen for, and how we fit into the whole group. Robuck observed that she saw references to moments from the past years of friendship reflected in the lyrics, saying that it was “really neat to see a lot of the seeds of friendship and discussion from [past years] [come] to fruition senior year.” In that sense, the musical was a gift to all of us.
