Excellence: Multiple Voices

Tulsa, OK - ORU has a long, varied tradition of musical excellence, especially when it comes to vocal performers, and that tradition is now looking to the future with a multitalented, multifaceted new international gospel ensemble called, appropriately, NuVoices.

Launched in August 2016, the group quickly gelled into a cohesive whole and began performing almost immediately, heading to Jackson, Tennessee in October to be part of a stadium event called "Praise in the Park." There, NuVoices joined churches and individuals from different streams of Christianity to praise God in ecumenical, public worship.

They were a hit.

"NuVoices aims to proclaim the goodness of God through excellent musicianship and a variety of genres and styles, appealing to the hearts of all people," says Dr. John Jenkins, the chair of the Music Department and creator of NuVoices. "This is a group of highly-skilled vocalists and instrumentalists."

Since there's so much more to performance than simple skill and talent, NuVoices members are given a sense of ownership by collectively participating in the creative process. The group works together to hone musical arrangements, any additional programming, and the visual aesthetics of each song and performance.

It's a good thing, too, as the group is generating plenty of buzz, having performed for the ORU Family Christmas program, the 2017 RenewU event, and a spring break tour that took them to Chicago and Gary, Indiana among other cities.

This new group of young voices is yet another step in a long line of generational talent that is taking the performing arts at ORU well into the next 50. We can't wait to see what happens next.

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