Education
- B.M., Bachelor of Music, University of Louisville, 1980
John Rommel has been a faculty member at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music since 1993. He was Principal Trumpet of the Louisville Orchestra from 1988-1996 and has performed throughout the United States, as well as in France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Spain, Chile, and China. As Principal Trumpet of the Louisville Orchestra, he recorded more than 30 compositions by many of the leading composers of the twentieth century. Rommel was a member of the Nashville Symphony from 1979-1988. In recent years, he has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra (including a three-week European tour with the orchestra in the fall of 2017), the Cincinnati Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Nashville Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, and as a regular guest principal with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. In addition, since 2015 he has been a member of the orchestra for the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
John Rommel’s chamber music experience includes performances with Summit Brass, the Saint Louis Brass Quintet, Fulcrumpoint New Music Project, and the Nashville Contemporary Brass Quintet. He has performed as a soloist in many different venues, including being a featured soloist with “The President’s Own” U. S. Marine Band at the National Trumpet Competition. He also has extensive commercial recording experience in the studios of Nashville, Tennessee, and Indianapolis, Indiana. John Rommel’s students hold positions in orchestras, military bands, and with universities in the United States, as well as in Canada and Europe. His primary teachers were William Adam, Louis Davidson, and Leon Rapier, with additional studies with Vincent Cichowicz and William Scarlett.