Assistant Artistic Director – Jessica Helms
Jessica Helms – Assistant Artistic Director
Jessica Helms, accompanist and assistant artistic director of the Gold Coast Concert Chorus, is also Coordinator of Chapel Music at California Lutheran University, where she provides musical leadership for the many worship services on campus, leads the Lord of Life Worship Team, and
directs the CLU Chapel Choir, an ensemble consisting of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and local residents. She also accompanies the CLU Choir, Cielo (Treble Choir), and Areté, CLU’s professional vocal ensemble, and coaches many of the music department’s vocal students.
She graduated from California Lutheran University with a BA in Piano and Oboe and also holds an MM in Choral Conducting from California State University, Los Angeles, having studied with Donald Brinegar and William Belan. She has also done Master’s work at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where she studied with J.J. Penna and Dalton Baldwin. Jessica has accompanied many choirs, ensembles, and soloists at various Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles County locations including Newbury Park High School, Ascension Lutheran Church, Our Redeemer Lutheran Church of Oxnard, the Geraldine Decker Vocal Studio,
Camarillo Community Theatre, All Saints by the Sea of Santa Barbara, CSULA, and Ventura College. She has previously been director and organist of College United Methodist Church of Ventura and director of Las Voces del Mar, the women’s chorale associated with the Pacific Shores Philharmonic Foundation. She has had the opportunity to perform across the country and throughout Europe, as well as work with many leading artists in a master class setting including Jo-Michael Scheibe, David Lang, Libby Larson, Emma Johnson, and Daniel Beckwith.