Hailed for his “formidable and effortless playing” and “intelligent ardor and exceptionally clear and bright technique,” pianist Jerico Vasquez is Artist-in-Residence / Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Shorter University in Rome, GA, as well as Instructor of Piano for the Georgia Governor’s Honors Program. Recipient of the 2021 and 2022 Top Teacher Award from Steinway and Sons, he is also a Shigeru Kawai Artist. He has performed as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and collaborative musician in Canada, Europe, the Philippines, and the United States, including recitals in California, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma, and all over Georgia.
Recent performances include a solo recital at the famed Ayala Museum sponsored by the Manila Chamber Orchestra Foundation and Lyric Piano, masterclasses for the Piano Teachers Guild of the Philippines, solo recitals for the Piano Technicians Guild Convention, the Kirk Concert and Masterclass Series, the Bunny Just Music Festival, a concerto performance with the Rome Symphony Orchestra, and chamber music performances with the Balkan String Quartet and the Expedition Winds. An avid vocal collaborator, he has worked with singers Joseph Legaspi, Indra Thomas, Ann Cravero, Cynthia Wohlschlager, Deborah Popham, Eric McCluskey, Rianne Marcum, Chuck Chandler, and most recently with Yuman Lee performing Schubert’s Winterreise on a tour of Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas. A CD of this collaboration was released in October 2020.
Dr. Vasquez received his Bachelor of Music degree under Dr. Charles Asche at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Piano Performance, with a Minor in Music History and Literature, from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston under Ruth Tomfohrde, and eminent pianists Abbey Simon and Horacio Gutiérrez.
As a pedagogue, Dr. Vasquez has been an active member of the Music Teachers National Association, the Georgia Music Teachers Association, and the Rome Music Teachers Association. He has served as President of the Houston Music Teachers Association, where he was recognized with a Teacher Service Award; President of the Bayou City Federated Music Club, Vice-President for Membership for the Georgia MTA, and Vice-President of the Rome Music Teachers Association, in addition to chairing many local competitions and festivals.
His students have won prizes in many competitions, including the HMTA/HYAC Concerto Competition, the Blinn College Young Pianist Competition, the GMTA Competitions, the Rome Symphony Concerto Competition, the Chopin International Youth Competition, and scholarships competitions sponsored by the Atlanta Steinway Society, the Atlanta Music Club, the Rome Music Lovers Club, and the Dublin-Laurens Arts Council, the William and Mary Ann Knight Scholarship Competition, and the Georgia Federation and National Federation of Music Clubs. Many of his students have also gone on to prestigious graduate music programs including the Eastman School of Music, the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, Rutgers University, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.