Lou De La Rosa

Director of Choral & Vocal Studies, West Valley College

E-mail

Lou De La Rosa is the Director of Choral and Vocal Studies and Music Department Chair at the Cilker School of Art & Design at West Valley College.

His choirs have performed in the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as historic venues in Europe and throughout the United States. While at West Valley College, Lou has collaborated with numerous choirs including The Choral Project, Australian Voices, San Jose State University Choirs, Santa Clara University Chamber Singers, San Francisco State University Chamber Singers, CSU East Bay Chamber Singers, Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale, Santa Clara Chorale, and Viva La Musica.

He has guest conducted The Winchester Orchestra of San Jose, The Santa Clara Chorale, and honor choirs throughout the state. In 2013, he guest conducted the San Jose State University in concert with the Rolling Stones, and he prepared Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale to perform The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in 2015.
Lou De La Rosa has taught music in San Jose for over 30 years, thirteen of which were at Abraham Lincoln High School, an Academic, Visual & Performing Arts Magnet, where he served as the Music and Performing Arts Department Chair. His choirs regularly received first-place awards at national music festivals and competitions. In 2001, both his Concert Choir and Chamber Choir were named Musicfest Orlando Festival Sweepstakes winners, garnering the top scores of more than 250 choirs performing that season.

Beginning with his appointment as choral director at West Valley College in 2004, Lou De La Rosa's vision for the vocal music program has been to make West Valley College a destination school for two-year college students seeking to major in vocal music. To that end, students have come from as far away as Petaluma and Gilroy to study music at West Valley College, and many have gone on to prestigious institutions such as Boston Conservatory, SF Conservatory, Mannes College of Music, Julliard, Eastman School of Music, UCLA, Biola, CSU Fullerton and San Jose State University.

Lou De La Rosa has actively served his profession on the boards of California ACDA (now CCDA), CMEA Bay Section, Music Association of California Community Colleges, San Jose Teachers Association, and West Valley-Mission Federation of Teachers. As President of the California chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (2015-17), he oversaw the streamlining of operations and finances, and the founding of the California Choral Directors Association, a 501c3 corporation.

Mr. De La Rosa received his BA Music in Voice and MA Music in Choral Conducting from San Jose State University where he studied with Dr. Charlene Archibeque, Ken Hannaford, Mary Breden and Joy Sherman. He was named Teacher of the Year in 1991 and 2002, and received commendation from the West Valley College Academic Senate for Community Involvement in 2010.