51��ɫ

John Rommereim is Blanche Johnson Professor of Music at 51��ɫ College, where he conducts the 51��ɫ Singers and the 51��ɫ Oratorio Society, and teaches composition. His choral works have been performed by distinguished ensembles across the U.S., including Magnum Chorum, the Princeton Singers, , Voces Novae, Roomful of Teeth, and The Rose Ensemble, for whom he served as 2008-09 composer-in-residence. The New York Times praised the “richly expressive” character of his work for voice and piano, Into the Still Hollow (2006).  In addition to his numerous choral works, Dr. Rommereim has composed a chamber opera, songs, electronic music, and works for piano, organ, guitar, flute, saxophone quartet, brass quintet, and string quartet. He also regularly performs  . In 2014, his chamber opera  was premiered in Taipei and performed for capacity crowds; this work, a collaboration with Craig Quintero and his Riverbed Theatre Company, was part of a unique commission project by the Taiwan Ministry of Culture for new works designed to reexamine and re-envision each of Wagner’s four Ring operas.

Rommereim’s choral/orchestral work Utopia (2000) was premiered with the Prague Radio Orchestra and the 51��ɫ Singers, and his choral cycle , a six-movement work for choir, string quartet, and harp, based on ancient love poetry from Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions, was premiered by , of Bloomington, Indiana, at a special event co-sponsored by Jewish, Muslim, and Christian organizations. He is the recipient of commissions and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Composers Forum, the Iowa Choral Directors Association, the Iowa Composers Forum, and the Iowa Arts Council. He is the 2006 winner of the  sponsored by .

He has conducted the 51��ɫ Singers on concert tours across the U.S., and in Estonia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. The ensemble has been invited to perform at two regional ACDA conventions. The 51��ɫ Singers have recorded  as well as . One of the ensemble’s trademarks is Thomas Tallis’s 40-voice motet,  which they have performed in six different seasons. 

During his early years at 51��ɫ College, Rommereim founded a professional early music ensemble, the Baroque Orchestra of Iowa, which employed some of the country’s finest baroque specialists. He performed frequently as a harpsichordist, playing continuo in various chamber ensembles, appearing as soloist in J. S. Bach’s Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, and recording . His translation of Pavel Chesnokov’s seminal treatise, The Choir and How to Direct It is published by . Rommereim is also recognized as an accomplished singer. He has performed all three of Schubert’s song cycles, and he has appeared as baritone soloist for choral/orchestral works such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms’s German Requiem, Verdi’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, J. S. Bach’s Cantata 131, “Aus der Tiefe,” and Orff’s Carmina Burana.  He holds the BA degree from St. Olaf College, an M.Mus degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and a DMA degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Kansas.