Lorenzo Trujillo

Dr. Lorenzo Trujillo is affiliate professor of music and the director of the Metropolitan State University Mariachi Ensemble and the Mariachi Correcaminos.  He began playing mariachi and traditional southwest Hispanic music as a teenager with the Mariachi Alegre and The Southwest Musicians with which he made recordings presenting music for entertainment and liturgical holiday events.   Lorenzo is the director of the Southwest Musicians.  In the fall of 2016, he was appointed: Direttore della Musica Sacra Ispanico of the Conservatory of Music for the Cathedral/Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.  He was awarded the 1996 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, acknowledging his work as a folk violinist, guitarist, and vocalist, among his other accomplishments as a musician, ethnic dancer, folklorist, arts administrator, and culture bearer for approximately five decades.  He was awarded funding from the National Endowment for the Arts as a performing artist in 1976.  In 2004, he was awarded the Hilos Culturales Distinguished Traditional Folk Artist Premio for his lifetime contributions to the traditional Hispanic traditions of Southern Colorado and New Mexico.  Dr. Trujillo has presented thousands of concerts, lecture demonstrations, and has published extensively about traditional music and dance of the Southwest United States over the past 40 years.  He has recorded and performed for television, radio and on numerous CDs.  In 2009, he was inducted into the Colorado Chicano Music Hall of Fame and in 2011 he was presented with the Tesoro Cultural Center’s Tesoro de Oro Award.  His most popular CD is: The Golden Age of the Southwest: From 1840 to Hollywood.

The Southwest Musicians began as a family troupe of three generations including his aunt, Eva Nuanez, father, Filbert Trujillo, son - Dr. Lorenzo Trujillo, Jr., and The Southwest Dancers directed by his mother, Orie Trujillo.  Since 1976, the group performed in numerous venues throughout the Southwest United States.  As the older generation retired, new members joined the group to continue the traditions of the 1840’s of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico.  Members have roots in New Mexico and in Southern Colorado.  Their performances have included such venues as: Old Bent's Fort, The Chicano Music Festival, The Fort, Tesoro Cultural Center, The Spanish Market, Taos City Auditorium, Santa Fe Fiestas, The San Luis Fiestas, Chile Harvest Festival, Denver Civic Theatre, El Centro Su Teatro, Concerts in Rome, Italy, Lima, Perú, and San Felipe, Baja California, Morelio Mexico, and many others.  The group has released numerous CD’s over these years of old-time dance tunes that were popular in the early pre-United States period of Colorado and New Mexico.  Their music has been handed down through many generations of family musicians who have taught their music by ear and practice.

              Dr. Trujillo holds two doctorates: Doctor of Education and Juris Doctor.  He currently works as a performing and teaching musician under Lorenzo A. Trujillo and The Southwest Musicians, teaches in the Music Department of the Metropolitan State University in Denver, as Director of Hispanic Music at the Conservatory of Music for the Cathedral/Basilica at the Immaculate Conception in Denver, and as an attorney in private practice.  Visit www.trujillolegal.com for more information on legal services available.