The Mission of the PLU Orchestras

The faculty members involved in the orchestra program recognize both the unique place of the orchestra in western music and its unique role in a comprehensive university music program. Like other major ensembles in the Department of Music, the orchestra serves as the large ensemble for students who study its traditional instruments, and therefore offers them a chance to experience significant repertoire in their performance media, and to develop their technical and artistic skills as they play it.

Unique among the major ensembles is the significant collaborative repertoire for the orchestra in which it shares the stage with soloists, choirs, chamber ensembles and actors. Playing in the orchestra offers unparalleled opportunity for developing listening skills and artistic sensitivity.

Because of its central role in western music, many of the most profound artistic statements of our culture have been and continue to be written for the orchestra. That places a special responsibility on the academic orchestra both with regard to the training of musicians and as a cultural resource within the artistic and scholarly community. Therefore, the faculty leaders of our orchestra and its constituent studios recognize the role of the orchestra as…

  • Provider of training and vocational mentorship for orchestral musicians and educators
  • Provider of meaningful artistic experience for student soloists, composers and listeners within the orchestra and throughout the institution
  • A cultural resource in the larger community of which we are a part
  • A participant in the critical dialog that characterizes a liberal arts institution
  • A significant performance outlet, sponsor and promoter for new and under-performed orchestral literature

We share with other large ensembles the method of making music as a community of artists and students. Equal in importance to the production of our musical performance is the process of cooperation in pursuit of a common, collaborative goal.