CCM Choral Conducting student receives 2025-26 Presser Graduate Music Award

Max Trombley examining manuscripts in the Puerto Rican General Archives (March 2025). Photo/Provided.

In March 2025, Trombley traveled to San Juan on a grant-funded research trip, conducting archival work and interviews at the General Archive, the Puerto Rican Conservatory of Music and the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras. A key component of this research included an interview with Dr. Nélida Muñoz de Frontera, whose foundational scholarship on Gutiérrez has been instrumental in shaping current understanding of his life and works.

At the archives, Trombley accessed Gutiérrez's autograph manuscripts, which he is now transcribing and editing into modern scholarly performance editions.

"The next phase of the project focuses on bringing this music back to life through performance and recording for public release," Trombley adds. "A performance is planned in Cincinnati in spring 2027, featuring professional musicians from the region, with the goal of reintroducing Gutiérrez's work to contemporary audiences. The project contributes to ongoing efforts to recover and elevate underrepresented voices in 19th-century Latin American music."

Join the CCM Chamber Choir for its final performance of the school year at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 25 at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church. Titled "Hold On" the concert celebrates and explores of the history of African American spirituals. The performance includes Jester Hairston's Hold On!, Florence Price's The Poet and His Song, John Wesley Work's This Little Light O'Mine and more.

Purchase tickets online through the CCM Box Office.

Maxwell Trombley is a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) student in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he studies with Joe Miller and Brett Scott. He serves as the 2025-2026 Choral Conducting Fellow with the Cincinnati May Festival.

As a vocalist, Trombley performs internationally and with major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, and Toledo Symphony Orchestra. He is a 2025-26 VOCES8 US Scholar and has performed with Seraphic Fire as a member of its Early Artist Program. Additional appearances include the Spoleto Festival USA, where he served as a Chorus Fellow, and the Bay View Music Festival as an invited artist.

Trombley's research centers on the revival and performance of music by 19th-century Puerto Rican composer Felipe Gutiérrez y Espinosa. He was awarded a 2024 Field Research Grant from the University of Miami's Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and is a recipient of the Presser Foundation Graduate Music Award. He was also named a semi-finalist for the 2025-26 Fulbright U.S. Student Program for a proposed project in choral conducting in the United Kingdom.

Before beginning graduate study, Trombley taught secondary choral music in Michigan public schools for four years. His ensembles consistently earned top ratings at state festivals and toured nationally. He contributed to the Michigan School Vocal Music Association (MSVMA) by coordinating state-level honors choirs and solo and ensemble events.

Trombley began graduate studies at the Frost School of Music before continuing with Dr. Amanda Quist at Western Michigan University, where he earned a Master of Music in Choral Conducting. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Eastern Michigan University.

He is an active conductor and educator. He recently served as Director of Music at First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and is a member of the summer voice faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts.