Jeff Nevin, Ph.D., is an award-winning classical composer whose works have been performed by the San Diego, Colorado, San Bernardino, La Jolla, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, Idaho Falls and Peninsula symphonies as well as the California EAR Unit, Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, Mariachi Sol de México and many other ensembles.
Also a skilled performer, he is the founder and artistic director of Mariachi Champaña Nevín, principal trumpet in the La Jolla Symphony, a frequent substitute with the Pacific and San Diego Symphonies. Nevin has soloed with the San Diego, Colorado, Aguascalientes, San Bernardino, La Jolla, Jalisco and Idaho Falls Symphonies as well as the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and has performed with artists including Placido Domingo, Charlotte Church, Kenny Loggins, Dave Brubeck, Burt Bacharach, Frank Sinatra Jr., The Moody Blues, Garrison Keillor and Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán.
Nevin studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School and has conducted the San Diego Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, Aguascalientes Symphony, La Jolla Symphony and Orquesta de Baja California among other ensembles. His theater credits include music director for the world college premiere of Mariachi Quixote, the first musical with a full mariachi-music score, and music director for the La Jolla Playhouse Spanish and English productions of Lorca’s Blood Wedding.
Nevin received his Bachelor of Music degree in music theory and composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1990, his Master of Music degree in music theory and composition from Arizona State University in 1992, and his Ph.D. in music theory and composition from the University of California at San Diego in 1998. Nevin is currently professor of music and director of mariachi activities at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, CA, where he devised and is now offering the world’s first college degree in mariachi music. He was a featured presenter at the International Trumpet Guild’s 2004 convention, at the 11th Annual Encuentro de Mariachi in Guadalajara, and he has given lectures to music educators across the country on the subject of incorporating mariachi music into public schools.
Frequently sought out by national and international media because of his expertise in mariachi music, Nevin has been featured on BBC Radio, Televisa, MSNBC and Univision Television, KPBS Television and Radio, in the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, in the documentary ¡Viva el Mariachi!, and many other media outlets. Nevin’s first book, Virtuoso Mariachi (University Press of America, 2002), was called “A major milestone in the history of mariachi music” by the Tucson Citizen newspaper, and he has just published a comprehensive set of method books, Mariachi Mastery (Neil A Kjos Music Company, 2006), that allow mariachi music to be easily inserted into “traditional” music programs anywhere. He is the artistic director of the Mariachi Scholarship Foundation and organized the Mariachi Institute in June, 2004, which brought together leading mariachi educators and performers from across the country to advance mariachi education.
