JEREMY ESQUER: LEARN ALL ABOUT ME
Jeremy Esquer: A Composer, Guitarist, and Dedicated Educator
Jeremy Esquer is a composer, guitarist, and educator whose work grows out of a lifelong curiosity about how sound can reflect the inner workings of both the natural world and human experience. Raised in Southern California, Jeremy wrote his first arrangement at age fifteen for his high school marching band—a halftime performance that led to additional student-led arrangements and revealed the excitement of hearing his own music in live performance. That moment set the course for a creative path rooted in research, experimentation, and close collaboration with performers.
Jeremy’s music has since been performed across the United States and internationally. His Imposición de Humanos (2023) for solo piano was premiered by John Solari at the University of Michigan. His trio Con Caronte (With Charon) (2024)—written for flute, bass clarinet, and cello—received its first recording by Chelsea Meying, Sean Bailey, and Tom Kraines through the Gabriela Ortiz Composition Studio. His String Quartet No. 1 (2024), commissioned by Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings and premiered by the Eris Quartet, traces the mind’s gradual journey from life to death through evolving brain wave “oscillations,” concluding in a quiet, luminous sound world that evokes the dissolution of self and arrival at Nirvana.
In 2025, Jeremy’s String Quartet No. 2—commissioned by the Instituto Pedagógico Las Dos Cuerdas—was recorded in Costa Rica by the institute’s faculty.
His chamber work A Través de los Ojos de Constructo (2023) was broadcast nationally on PBS for Songs About Buildings and Moods. Other works include Psilocybe Cubensis (2022) for flute, percussion, and electronics (commissioned by Alexis Eubanks), Infierno, Op. 5 Circle I (2021) premiered by the University of Michigan Philharmonia Orchestra, and multiple pieces for organ, Pierrot ensemble, and mixed chamber groups.
Jeremy’s upcoming commissions reflect the next stage of his research-driven creative work. A Convergence (2024–26), a double concerto for classical guitar, electronics, and mixed ensemble, will premiere in April 2026. His fixed-media chamber works Dissociative – Multidimensional – Tulpa (2026) and Local – Subconscious – Daemoni (2026) will premiere in Costa Rica and New York. All of these works employ his original compositional method, Translational Composition realized through Polytempic Polymicrotonality; mitigated through AI Research Tool (ChatGPT-5).
Jeremy’s compositional research centers on the development of Translational Composition, a methodology that transforms scientific, philosophical, and phenomenological structures into a musical composition. Central to this approach is the translation of natural phenomena—such as astrophysical processes, environmental behaviors, and cognitive states—into audible frequency worlds through mathematically grounded mapping systems. The work is interdisciplinary in nature, driven by the composer’s need to negotiate with concepts, methodologies, and domains of expertise that lie beyond traditional musical training. Through this engagement, quantitative data and conceptual behaviors are converted into pitch fields, timbral profiles, and layered temporal architectures. This framework employs polytempic polymicrotonality, in which multiple temporal grids and microtonal tuning systems operate simultaneously, reflecting the complex, multi-scalar dynamics of the systems being translated. His work integrates spectral approaches, such as the overtone and undertone series, expanded equal temperaments, and custom frequency-scaling formulas developed through his own research. AI, used strictly as a research assistant, supports the process by synthesizing scientific literature, double-checking calculations, and ensuring conceptual precision. His dissertation, Translational Composition, realized through Polytempic Polymicrotonality; mitigated through AI Research Tool (ChatGPT-5) (expected 2026), formalizes this method as a framework for data-informed translation, enabling musical works to mirror the internal logic, behavior, and sonic potential of the phenomena they represent.
As a guitarist, Jeremy performs across classical, contemporary, and experimental settings. His work includes Baroque guitar performances with the University of Michigan’s Baroque Chamber Orchestra and electric guitar collaborations with New Music Detroit, including Strange Beautiful Music 18. He has toured internationally with the Cal State LA Guitar Ensemble, performing at the 5th Solarino International Guitar Festival in Sicily and appearing for the U.S. Ambassador to Malta.
A dedicated educator, Jeremy has taught aural skills, music theory, and electronic music at the University of Michigan, where he served as a Graduate Student Instructor across the theory curriculum. In 2025 he joined Tennessee Tech University as faculty, teaching Theory III, Form and Analysis, composition seminar, and a private composition studio. He has contributed to the MPulse Composition Institute and previously taught classical guitar to young learners in the Duarte Unified School District.
Jeremy previously served as a board member of El Mundo Paz, a nonprofit supporting Latino artists and advancing free music-education initiatives for Latino families experiencing economic hardship. His work with the organization included strategic development, event planning, and community outreach.
He holds degrees from the University of Michigan (MM and DMA in Composition) and California State University, Los Angeles (BM in Composition, cum laude), with earlier studies at Imperial Valley College. His doctoral work at Michigan was supported by the prestigious Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship. His teachers have included Bright Sheng, Evan Chambers, Erik Santos, Roshanne Etezady, and John M. Kennedy.