Nerissa Paglinauan (pronounced ne-REE-sa pag-lee-NOW-an) holds Bachelor’s degrees in music and child development from Tufts University where she received the Outstanding Achievement Award in the Department of Music. She has sung with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society since 2005, and previously was a member of the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington, DC for five years.
Nerissa is trained in both piano and voice, and has been a church musician since the mid-’90s, beginning in high school as a cantor for the Church of the Nativity (Timonium). In college, she sang and played guitar and piano for the Catholic Community at Tufts, serving as its Director of Music Ministry during her senior year. She went on to be a chorister/cantor for Holy Trinity (Washington, DC), St. Francis of Assisi (Baltimore), and Epiphany Episcopal (Timonium).
When not making music, she works as the Program Manager for Towson University’s Asian Arts & Culture Center, which was named “Best Art Space” in Baltimore magazine’s 2021 Best of Baltimore issue. In her free time, she enjoys playing the piano and ukulele, cooking, hiking, and spending time with her husband Bruce, and sons Jonah and Braeden.