John Carroll

Director of Brass

John Carroll studied trumpet with Austyn R. Edwards, Ray Makeever and Ron Modell in high school. He obtained a B.M. in Trumpet Performance and was awarded a Performer's Certificate, by unanimous approval, from Indiana University where he studied with Louis Davidson and Charles Gorham. John's interest in jazz placed him as lead trumpet in David Baker's Jazz Ensemble at I.U., a position held for eight consecutive semesters. Other teachers include Armando Ghitalla (as a member of the Tanglewood Fellowship Orchestra), Thomas Stevens (while attending the Music Academy of the West), Ray Sasaki (University of Texas) and Larry Schmidt. John received his Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of Texas at San Antonio in May of 2007 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in August of 2008.

Mr. Carroll was previously principal trumpet of the Boston Opera, third/assistant first trumpet of the Springfield Symphony and fourth/utility trumpet of the Detroit Symphony. He has also played principal trumpet with the Columbus Symphony, the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra, the Winters Chamber Orchestra and the Cactus Pear Music Festival. He is the trumpet instructor at St. Mary's University and instructor of all brass instruments at Our Lady of the Lake University. He also has created and conducts Brass Ensembles at both institutions and the Jazz Ensemble at Our Lady of the Lake University. In the fall of 2008, Dr. Carroll was appointed conductor of the Providence Community Wind Ensemble.

Mr. Carroll is a founding member and Executive Director of the San Antonio Brass, Inc., a 501(c)3 musical organization dedicated to education through music and the preservation of brass performance and literature.

John's other interests include composing, recording and the use of the computer in making music. A collector of instruments (over 3,000) he owns 79 vintage cornets, hundreds of mouthpieces and an untold number of trumpets.