Loren E. Frost
1941 -
Loren Frost, a low brass performer who has taught in a number of Seventh-day Adventist schools, is best known for his work as composer and arranger for music used in Earth: Theater of the Universe. He also worked as an entrepreneur in various areas and founded a music production company that carried his name.
Born and raised in Washington State, Frost began piano lessons at age nine. He attended Auburn Adventist Academy in Washington, where he sang in the choir and played baritone horn in the band during his senior year. On his own, he learned to play the baritone in six weeks with enough proficiency to be in the band after his parents had given the horn to him the summer before his senior year. Band director Paul Coleman then guided him as he prepared to join the group.
Following graduation from academy in 1960, he started a music major at Walla Walla College, now University, where he studied for two years. In 1962, he transferred to Pacific Union College, where he studied brass with Carlyle Manous and composition with George Wargo. He played under Manous and Bertil Van Boer, directors of the band and Wind Sinfonietta, respectively. It was during this time that he also started playing trombone.
Following completion of a B.Mus. at PUC in 1965, Frost held a succession of one-year appointments, teaching music at Pendleton Junior Academy in Oregon, Columbia Academy in Washington, Milo Academy in Oregon, and Wenatchee Junior Academy in Washington. Following the year at WJA, he went to Andrews University, where he completed an M.Mus. in 1970. From 1970 to 1972 he taught at Canadian Union College, now Canadian University College.
After leaving CUC, he worked with pastor Richard Lange and artist Lorenzo Ghiglieri to create a multi-media presentation called Earth: Theater of the Universe. The final presentation traced the Adventist view of the plan of salvation from the fall of Lucifer to the restoration of God's kingdom through the use of art, commentary, and music. The program has since been presented over 3000 times in numerous venues and in countries around the world
Frost composed the music and arranged it to maximize the impact of the presentation. He later talked about that experience:
As we worked on it, periodically we would go down to Whitney Studio in Glendale, California, to record the music. Looking back, it was a great experience. I was just a kid at that time and yet had unlimited resources at my disposal. If I wanted a bass flute, I had it. Whether it was a special instrument like that or a full orchestra of forty, It was mine. I wrote eight songs, arranged two others written by another composer, and did all the background music. We used a music copyist and employed professional studio musicians at the recording sessions. It took two years to put the project together.
From the end of that project until his retirement in 2006, Frost did not work continuously in music again. He worked for two years at Miami Union Academy in Florida from 1986-1988 and at Georgia-Cumberland Academy for two years after that. In 1993, he returned to the Northwest, where he taught music at Harris Junior Academy in Pendleton, Oregon, for seven years. Frost then taught music at Spokane Junior Academy until his retirement, in 2006. He taught on a half-time interim basis at Walla Walla Valley Academy in Washington during his first year of retirement.
ds/2008
Source: Interview with Loren Frost, 2008