The Point Loma Nazarene University Concert Choir
Tucked away almost to the cliffs in San Diego, California, Point Loma Nazarene University sits fastidiously on 90 acres, serving as home to 3,500+ undergraduate and graduate students each year. The university’s growing fine arts programs are an accurate testimony of the core values to which Protestant Christians cling.
Although originally envisioned as a Bible college by the original seven woman who prayed laboriously as the Bible College Prayer Circle (started in 1897), PLNU’s current recognition as a selective liberal arts institution began to develop under its’ first president Dr. Phineas F. Bresee.
True to the standard of excellence first sought after by Dr. Bresee, the PLNU Music Department’s scholars are able to present well-rounded, professionally prepared discourse on voice-leading, advanced music theory and composition, choral and orchestral arranging, conducting, music history and performance practice, jazz studies and more.
Subsequently, like many other prominent fine arts institutions, leadership roles in ensembles are competitive, based on audition performance and rewarded with financial assistance. Selective at the onset, only the most highly qualified applicants are able to pursue a music degree at the Cooper Music Center on campus. Here are some pictures of Cooper Music Center’s state-of-the-art facilities:
Travel is emphasized throughout the program in successful efforts to re-create the vast touring that professional musicians will experience. Ensembles perform as far West as Hawaii and as far East as Russia and beyond. Top performers compete at the San Joaquin and Reno Jazz Festivals where PLNU ensembles have received top honors.
Alums of the PLNU Music Program have gone on to study in the top graduate programs of University of Southern California, Colorado State University, San Diego State University, University of Colorado, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Nevada, Las Vegas and others. The ineluctable conclusion: Point Loma Nazarene University’s Music Department is a veritable incubator of hatch-ling creativity and forward motion towards mature musical growth, understanding and scholarship.
The author earned a Bachelor of Music Arts degree with an emphasis in Performance from Point Loma Nazarene University (Class of ‘03), and is also a former recipient of the International Church of the Nazarene’s Phineas F. Bresee Award https://www.nazarene.org/