Dr. John William Trotter on The Messiah Project, Community, and the Pursuit of Beauty

Special Salon Preview: Why Live Beauty Matters

Summary In this special preview episode of Beauty Through Faith, Gustav Hoyer is joined by members of the Kalos Arts Ensemble ahead of their upcoming salon concert at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Together, they explore what makes chamber music unique, why live artistic experiences matter in an increasingly digital world, and how the pursuit of beauty points us toward deeper truths about God and ourselves. The ensemble reflects on the intimate nature of chamber music, the role of beauty in the Christian life, and the special lighting design that will accompany the performance. Whether you’re a lifelong classical music enthusiast or attending your first concert, this conversation offers a glimpse into the heart behind the salon experience and an invitation to participate in a living, breathing encounter with beauty. Event Information Souvenirs & Passions Saturday, May 30, 20267:00 PMSt. Peter’s Anglican Church Featuring: * Original chamber music by Gustav Hoyer * An immersive synchronized lighting experience * Intimate salon-style performance * Conversation, fellowship, and reflection on beauty and faith Tickets Here [https://kalosarts.org/store/p/souvenirs-passions]. Key Takeaways * Chamber music invites listeners into a conversation rather than a spectacle. * Live artistic experiences offer a uniquely human connection that cannot be replicated digitally. * Beauty, truth, and goodness ultimately find their source in God. * Music unfolds through memory, inviting listeners to actively participate in the experience. * Every performance is unique, shaped by the musicians, audience, and moment. * The salon format creates space for deeper engagement with both art and community. Beauty through Faith is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe [https://beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Dr. John William Trotter on The Messiah Project, Community, and the Pursuit of Beauty

Summary In this wonderful episode of Beauty Through Faith, Gustav Hoyer and Benjamin Harding are joined by Dr. John William Trotter and five students from Wheaton College to discuss The Messiah Project — an innovative and deeply embodied presentation of Handel’s Messiah. Together, they explore beauty, sacred music, community, artistic formation, and the role of embodiment in worship and performance. The conversation moves from theology and Baroque dance to personal testimonies of healing, prison ministry, artistic calling, and the transformative power of communal art-making. Featuring reflections from Donovan Williams, Lillian Evans, Kurt Hoyer, Crystal Curtis, and Hannah Morris, this episode offers a powerful glimpse into how beauty can awaken longing for God. Links & Resources * Messiah Project trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjSJb_13wRQ] * Messiah Project (original 2024) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU8j18DNeOE] * Messiah Project 2026 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdTVRpLGPxc&list=RDzdTVRpLGPxc&start_radio=1] * Link to [https://www.wheaton.edu/wheaton-college-conservatory-of-music/ensembles/concert-choir/messiah-project-tour-2026/]Messiah Project 2026 [https://www.wheaton.edu/wheaton-college-conservatory-of-music/ensembles/concert-choir/messiah-project-tour-2026/]website [https://www.wheaton.edu/wheaton-college-conservatory-of-music/ensembles/concert-choir/messiah-project-tour-2026/] * Wheaton College Conservatory of Music [https://www.wheaton.edu/wheaton-college-conservatory-of-music/] * Wheaton College Concert Choir [https://www.wheaton.edu/wheaton-college-conservatory-of-music/ensembles/concert-choir/] Featured Student Guests * Donovan Williams * Lillian Evans * Kurt Hoyer * Crystal Curtis * Hannah Morris Referenced Thinkers & Artists * Fyodor Dostoevsky [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fyodor-Dostoyevsky] * C. S. Lewis [https://www.cslewis.com/us/] * Dietrich Bonhoeffer [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Bonhoeffer] * George Frideric Handel [https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel] Key Takeaways * Beauty is often experienced as remembrance rather than discovery * Sacred music can become an embodied and communal act of worship * Handel’s Messiah contains profound theological and emotional depth beyond its cultural familiarity * Art-making is most transformative when rooted in community rather than individualism * Prison ministry revealed how deeply sacred music can resonate when received without cultural expectations * The pursuit of beauty is inseparable from the pursuit of truth and ultimately from the pursuit of God * Christian artistic formation involves humility, vulnerability, and shared spiritual life Beauty through Faith is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our mission, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe [https://beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Kilby Austin on Poetry, Suffering, and the Pursuit of Beauty

Summary In this episode of Beauty Through Faith, Gustav Hoyer and Benjamin Harding sit down with poet Kilby Austin to explore how beauty, suffering, and faith intersect through poetry. Drawing from Scripture, hymnody, and personal experience, Kilby reflects on the role of art in helping us perceive and pursue God more clearly. Links & Resources Kilby Austin * Substack [https://substack.com/@kilbyaustin] * Prisca Publishing (faith-based publisher) [https://www.priscapublishing.com/about] Kilby’s New Book This way to Warmth * This Way to Warmth [https://www.priscapublishing.com/shop/p/this-way-to-warmth] Referenced Poets and Thinkers * Gerard Manley Hopkins [https://poets.org/poet/gerard-manley-hopkins] * Emily Dickinson [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson] * Abraham Kuyper [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Kuyper] * Junius Johnson [https://www.juniusjohnson.com/] Key Takeaways * Poetry can be both deeply sensory and intellectually grounded * Hymnody plays a powerful role in shaping our understanding of beauty * Suffering can act as a signpost pointing us toward God * Beauty is not separate from faith, it is a way of pursuing God Himself * Each person reflects something unique about God’s nature Beauty through Faith is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our mission, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe [https://beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Joe McHugh on Craftsmanship and Art

Summary In this episode of Beauty Through Faith, Benjamin Harding is joined by Joe McHugh—artist, educator, and longtime advocate for craftsmanship and beauty—to explore the role of art in shaping both the human person and the life of faith. Joe reflects on his early formation as an artist, his years teaching in public schools, and the ways beauty became a lifelong pursuit rooted in both discipline and worship. Together, they discuss the relationship between skill and expression, the loss of craftsmanship in modern art education, and the cultural shift away from beauty toward abstraction, utility, and self-expression. This conversation also explores the deep human need for beauty, the tension artists face in academic and cultural spaces, and the ways technology and convenience can distance us from embodied, meaningful artistic experience. Joe offers a compelling vision for recovering beauty—not as luxury, but as something essential to human flourishing and spiritual life. This episode is especially for artists, musicians, educators, and anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how beauty, craft, and faith intersect in a modern world. Links & Resources Website: Joe’s Website [https://www.joemchughart.com/] Fly Fishing & Classes: [https://stpetes.com/] St. Pete’s Fly Shop (Fort Collins, CO) [https://stpetes.com/] Featured Artists (mentioned): * Matthew McHugh — University of Northern Colorado [https://www.unco.edu/employee-directory/matthew-mchugh/] * Jonathan McHugh — Painter & Professor [https://jonathanmchughart.com/] References * Johann Sebastian Bach — Cello Suites [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32FpqysC1PY] * Gustav Mahler — Symphony No. 2 (“Resurrection”) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIWi6zfFvXU&list=RDFIWi6zfFvXU&start_radio=1] * Bill Frisell — Jazz Guitar Performances [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00B5ciNt41g&list=RD00B5ciNt41g&start_radio=1] * Claude Monet — Impressionist Landscapes [https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/claude-monet] Key Takeaways * Beauty is not subjective chaos—it is grounded in order, craft, and form * Artistic skill and discipline are essential, not optional, to meaningful expression * Modern art culture often prioritizes concept over craftsmanship, to its detriment * People are deeply hungry for beauty, even if they cannot always articulate it * Encounters with beauty—through nature, music, or art—can be deeply healing * Art is not merely self-expression, but a form of participation in something greater * Technology and convenience risk distancing us from real, embodied artistic experience * The church has an opportunity—and responsibility—to recover a vision of beauty * Teaching art is not just technical formation, but personal and human formation * Faithful artists are called to pursue excellence with humility, integrity, and purpose This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe [https://beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]

Cori Belle on Commonplace Beauty

Summary In this episode of Beauty Through Faith, Benjamin Harding and Gustav Hoyer are joined by Cori Belle, pianist, teacher, and creator of Commonplace Beauty, to explore what it means to pursue beauty faithfully in both the church and the world. Cori reflects on her formation as a musician, her journey as a Christian artist, and the ways beauty is discovered not only in virtuosity and performance, but in discipline, obedience, community, and everyday life. Together, we discuss excellence in art, resistance artists face in modern worship culture, the loss of musical formation in the church, and how artists can steward their gifts with courage and humility. This episode is especially for artists, musicians, and thoughtful Christians wrestling with how faith, craft, and beauty intersect over a lifetime. Links & Resources: * Website: https://coribelle.com [https://coribelle.com/] * Album: Commonplace Beauty [https://coribelle.com/album/638803/commonplace-beauty] * Substack: At Home with Classical Piano [https://athomewithclassicalpiano.substack.com/] * Instagram: Follow Cori for teaching resources and visual curriculum inspiration [https://www.instagram.com/coribellepiano/] Music Link: * Johannes Brahms — Intermezzo, Op. 118 No. 2 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Gb0JcviRA&list=RD20Gb0JcviRA&start_radio=1] * Charles Ives – [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ&list=RDmYmC0Z6x7KQ&start_radio=1]The Alcotts [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ&list=RDmYmC0Z6x7KQ&start_radio=1] (from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ&list=RDmYmC0Z6x7KQ&start_radio=1]Concord Sonata [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ&list=RDmYmC0Z6x7KQ&start_radio=1]) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYmC0Z6x7KQ&list=RDmYmC0Z6x7KQ&start_radio=1] Key Takeaways * Beauty is not accidental — it is pursued through discipline, patience, and obedience * Artistic excellence is not opposed to faith; it can be an act of worship * The church has historically valued training and beauty — recovering this matters * Shared encounters with beauty can be deeply formative and communal * Faithful artists often live in tension between the church and the world * God frequently works through discomfort, not convenience * “Commonplace beauty” is found in daily faithfulness, not perfection Beauty through Faith is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe [https://beautythroughfaith.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2]