Nikolasa Tejero is Assistant Professor of Clarinet and Woodwind Division Coordinator at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she directs the clarinet studio, teaches music theory and literature courses, and coaches the Clarinet Ensemble and Woodwind Quintet. Dr. Tejero holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Tennessee—Chattanooga, a Master of Music degree from Baylor University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kentucky. Her principal teachers were Jay Craven, Peter Temko, Laura Ardan, Richard Shanley, and Scott Wright.
Born and raised in Mérida, México, Nikolasa was influenced by the music of her native Yucatán, where she began her musical training. Since then, she has been fascinated by the cultural and musical imprint left by her childhood experiences in the Mexican culture and has devoted much of her energy to researching the history, evolution and construction of these cultural elements in the folk, popular, and art music of various Latin American music centers. Today, Dr. Tejero remains actively engaged in this musicological research. She has presented several lectures and lecture recitals on the topic of Latin American art music traditions (last spring she performed The Clarinet in the New World—4.0: Dances Across the Americas, the fourth in a series of Latin American themed recitals exploring the diverse dance traditions in North, Central and South America as found in the concert repertoire for the clarinet).
Celebrated for her engaging performances and creative programming, Dr. Tejero keeps a busy schedule as concerto soloist and recitalist across the United States. She also appears regularly at festivals and conferences internationally; most recently she performed at the International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest© 2013 (Assisi, IT), the College Music Society International Conference 2013 (Buenos Aires, AR), and TNMEA 2013 (TN). Other appearances have included TMEA (San Antonio, TX), Spoleto USA (Charleston, SC), International Music Festival (Sydney, AU), and New Dischord Festival (Chattanooga, TN). Her interpretations are recognized as elegant and spirited, and her playing has been described as possessing "technical and musical mastery...the rhythmic and expressive flavor of the music was always in the foreground." (The Post and Courier—Spoleto USA edition, Charleston, SC). Dr. Tejero has received a number of distinctions both nationally and abroad (among these, the Outstanding Performer Award at the International Music Festival in Sydney, Australia, and the second place award in the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta's Young Artists Competition).
As a proponent of new music, Dr. Tejero has premiered several new works written for her; most recent among these were the premieres of Mario Abril's Fantasía for clarinet and piano, Harvey Stokes' Clarinet Concerto and Trio Expressivo (written for her flute, clarinet and piano ensemble Tresillo), and Tim Hinck's sonata for clarinet and piano "Digitalis." She is a founding member of New Dischord, a Chattanooga-group committed to the promotion of living music that over the past several years has presented a variety of new music events, including a new music festival. Dr. Tejero is the founder and director of the River City Clarinet Winter Festival; the event, which offers diverse musical activities for student, amateur, and professional clarinetists, has drawn participants from across a half-dozen states in the Southeastern US.