Ivan Trevino (b.1983) is a multi-genre composer, percussionist, writer and arts advocate. Named a music ambassador by the U.S. State Department in 2014, Ivan has shared his music with audiences around the world, from Asia to Brazil to Madison Square Garden in New York City.
As a composer, Ivan’s music has been performed on five continents in over 25 countries, including performances by famed soloists and ensembles like Michael Burritt, Nancy Zeltsman and Third Coast Percussion. He is a multi-award winning recipient of the Percussive Arts Society’s International Composition Contest and has over 70 compositions and songs to his name. Most recently, he was the featured composer on American Public Media’s Performance Today.
Ivan is also well-known for his work as a drummer and songwriter with Break of Reality, an international touring cello rock quartet. Break of Reality has released four studio albums and has been featured on PBS, Huffington Post, Yahoo Music and is on regular rotation on National Public Radio.
An active educator, Ivan is co-director of the Eastman Percussion Festival, an annual summer festival hosted by Eastman School fo Music. He has also designed and taught courses at Eastman, and was previously a faculty member at Baylor University’s School of Music. He is currently an artist and clinician for Zildjian Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Malletech Instruments, Pearl / Adams, and Meinl Percussion.
In 2017, Ivan co-founded The Big Trouble alongside composer and percussionist, Drew Worden. The percussion / songwriting collective received a Boston Foundation Artist Grant in 2017 to record and produce their debut album. In 2018, the ensemble was selected to perform a showcase concert at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
Ivan’s work spans various media including storytelling, poetry, and film scoring. Space Junk, his children’s story set to music, will be released as an illustrated book later this year. His collection of online writings are regularly circulated throughout the arts community, including “My Pretend Music School”, a blog post that sparked debate about music school curriculum and has become required reading for collegiate courses around the U.S.
Ivan received a BM and MM from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. He currently lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Amanda, and their children, Henry and Oscar.