By Erika Norton, WPAOG Senior Multimedia Journalist

West Point Glee Club alumni raised their voices together during a four-day reunion July 16–19, celebrating the friendships, traditions and music that have connected generations of singers since the club’s founding in 1903.

Seventy-one alumni singers were joined by family members and guests, bringing total reunion attendance to 133. The weekend featured rehearsals, receptions and a banquet before culminating in a special collaboration with the West Point Band during its “America Sings!” concert July 18 at Eisenhower Hall Theatre.

The reunion began July 16 with full and sectional rehearsals at Eisenhower Hall, followed by a welcome reception. Alumni returned the next morning for additional rehearsals, including a dress rehearsal with the West Point Band, before gathering that evening for cocktails and a banquet dinner.

On Saturday, reunion attendees toured Randall Rehearsal Hall in Egner Hall and gathered for the dedication of a Steinway piano gifted by Bill Murdy ’64. Murdy dedicated the piano in honor of an accomplished pianist, his wife Mary Murdy, which added another lasting note to a weekend centered on preserving the Glee Club’s legacy and supporting future generations of cadet singers.

The evening concert also featured “A Day in the Life,” a march composed by Tom Lough ’64 as a tribute to the American Soldier. Through a sequence of traditional bugle calls interspersed with original march melodies, the piece takes listeners through the course of a Soldier’s day. The West Point Band performed a concert arrangement by Paul Murtha, who served as the band’s chief arranger during the 1990s. A parade-band arrangement of the march was previously performed as march-on music during a cadet review in May 2024.

The reunion followed a strong show of support for the Glee Club during the West Point Challenge in May of 2026, when donors contributed $25,796 over five days. Kathy Hildreth ’83 also offered to match Glee Club gifts—beginning with the West Point Challenge and continuing through the reunion—up to $250,000, giving supporters an opportunity to double the impact of their contributions.

Today, the West Point Glee Club includes 75 cadets and performs more than 20 concerts each year, both on and off post. With 11 recordings and a national reputation, the club remains one of the country’s most prestigious collegiate choirs.

More than a reunion, the weekend reflected the enduring role of music in the Long Gray Line. From alumni lending their voices onstage to graduates investing in the club’s future, the celebration carried forward a tradition that allows West Point Corps of Cadets to develop as artists and leaders of character.