- Music
Jeremiah Trujillo is an active soloist, collaborative pianist, and historical musicologist. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a special prize for the interpretation of a nineteenth-century Romantic work at the 2013 San Francisco Young Pianists Competition. He is a recipient of the 2018 Faculty Recognition Award for Excellence in Musical Performance at UC Davis, and the 2014 Eisner Prize for Music, awarded at UC Berkeley. Jeremiah was also a finalist in the 2013 Carmel Music Society piano competition, held at Sunset Center in Carmel, CA. He participated in numerous master classes with distinguished artists including Jon Nakamatsu, Nelita True, John Perry, Frederic Moyer, Carl Blake, and Katherine Chi.
Jeremiah is the winner of the 2009 Earl R. and Marilyn Ann Kruschke Prize in Piano Performance, held at California State University, Chico. In 2004 he placed first in the high school division of the North State Symphony’s Young Artists Auditions held in Chico, CA, and at age 12 subsequently performed the first movement of the Grieg Piano Concerto, op. 16, with the North State Symphony. In February 2009, Jeremiah again won the North State Symphony’s Young Artist’s Auditions, this time in the college division, and performed in September 2009 the first movement of the Khachaturian Piano Concerto. He also performed the Mozart Concerto No. 20, K. 466 with the Shasta Symphony Orchestra in Redding, CA in October 2012, and the first movement of the Grieg Piano Concerto with the UC Davis Summer Symphony in September 2015. Jeremiah recorded an album of Spanish piano works, now available on CD Baby, titled “Works by Albéniz, de Falla, Granados, Salazar.”
As an experienced accompanist, Jeremiah has worked for the Mondavi National Young Artist Competition, the Westside Performing Arts Company, and regularly accompanies recitals at UC Davis. At UCD, Jeremiah was the assistant conductor for the University Chorus (Winter 2018 and Spring 2018). From November 2017 to October 2018, Jeremiah coordinated the performance salon series at UC Davis. Since 2009, he has been an accompanist for the Shasta Vocal Institute, collaborating with singers in performances of art songs and arias, as well as opera scenes including The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach, La traviata by Verdi, The Magic Flute by Mozart, Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti, I Puritani by Bellini, and West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein.
Jeremiah began his piano studies at age six with Jeannie Neves. Past teachers include Jacqueline Chew, Don Erickson, Ronald Cole, and Dr. Alexander Tutunov, and he studied harpsichord with Katherine Heater and Davitt Moroney. Jeremiah was Valedictorian at his graduation from Hope High School at age 14. At Shasta College, he received the Zinn Award. Jeremiah holds an A.A. in music from Shasta College, a B.A. in music with Highest Distinction from UC Berkeley, and a M.A. in music from UC Davis.
Jeremiah is currently a Ph.D. student in historical musicology at UC Davis; his research interests include cultural diplomacy and music, Mexican popular song, and nature musicology. At the 2016 regional meeting in San Francisco of the Society for Ethnomusicology, he presented his paper “‘Pan-American Union, Hollywood, and Hemispheric Solidarity’: Mexican and Spanish Popular Song during the Good Neighbor Policy.” His dissertation focuses on musical cosmopolitanism in early-twentieth-century Spain. He resides in El Sobrante, CA.