Jeremy Crosmer is a remarkable young artist—both as a cellist and a composer. He completed multiple graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in cello, composition and theory pedagogy, and received his D.M.A. in 2012 at age 24. From 2012 to 2017 he served as the Assistant Principal cellist in the Grand Rapids Symphony, and joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in May of 2017.
Crosmer is a recipient of the 2021 Ford Musician Award for Excellence in Community Service, presented by the League of American Orchestras, for his work piloting the DSO’s partnership with Kadima Mental Health Services. Additionally, he is the sole composer and arranger for the GRS’s Music for Health Initiative, which pairs symphonic musicians with music therapists to bring classical music to hospitals. In March of 2017 the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital launched a music channel that runs continuously, using four hours of meditative music composed by Crosmer and performed by musicians of the GRS.
Crosmer is a founding member of the modern music ensemble Latitude 49. He is also a current member of the band ESME—a duo that brings crossovers and mashups of pop and classical music to schools throughout Michigan. ESME released its first CD in December of 2016. Crosmer was also a part of the World Map project with the Four Corners Ensemble, recording Shuying Li’s cello concerto “Matilda’s Dream” in 2020. Crosmer was awarded the prestigious Theodore Presser Graduate Music Award in 2011 to publish, record and perform his Crosmer-Popper duets. The recording with Julie Albers and the sheet music are both available online.
Crosmer has been commissioned multiple times by both the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and GRS. His overture “Ozark Traveler” and his viola concerto Masks: a Heroine’s Tale have been performed around the country. In May of 2022 he performed his work “Threnody” for cello and string orchestra with the DSO. He has played Dvořák, Haydn, Boccherini, Elgar and Saint-Saëns cello concertos numerous times with orchestras across Michigan, and in April of 2023 he performed the American premiere of Fernande Decruck’s Cello Concerto, which was written in 1932.
In 2021, Crosmer created a database of free, digital editions of music by Classical Black Composers, arranged or transcribed for string quartet, with over 33 pieces available on his website. Crosmer has taught music theory, pre-calculus, and cello at universities across Michigan.