John McElroy

is Principal Trumpet and frequent trumpet soloist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, where he has served since 1974.

A graduate of Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, he has been a member of the Philadelphia Concerto Soloists, Rittenhouse Brass Quintet, and Young Audiences Inc.

He has performed, recorded, and toured with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony and other regional orchestras.

Other long-term associations have been as Principal trumpet with the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming and the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro North Carolina. Since 2005 he has participated as Principal Trumpet in the New Hampshire Music Festival.

Mr. McElroy frequently performs as a recitalist and, as a member of the Birmingham based Ambassador Brass Quintet, has performed concerts throughout the south including a residency at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston South Carolina.

Since 2002, Mr. McElroy has traveled to Romania six times where he performed as a soloist and with the Filarmonica De Stat Sibiu and the Filarmonica De Stat “Transilvania” in Cluj. As part of the American-Romanian Music Festival, he performed as recitalist and conducted master classes at the “Gheorghe Dima” Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca.

As an educator he has been on the faculties of Samford University, the University of Montevallo, the Alabama School of Fine Arts, and, most recently, Instructor of Trumpet at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Mr. McElroy maintains a large studio of trumpet students, many of whom have gone on to careers in performing. He is very dedicated to helping young musicians pursue their interest in music.

In May 2000, Mr. McElroy was honored by being inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame along with his friend and former student, Mr. Wynton Marsalis.