— Please note: click on red text to listen to recordings. If you are interested in seeing scores, send me an email, and I’ll send you a pdf: rommer[at]grinnell.edu
Larger Works for Choir
Convivencia, a multi-movement work for choir and string quartet. Settings of ancient love lyrics in Hebrew, Latin, and Arabic. Premiered by Voces Novae of Bloomington, Indiana..
- Surge amica mea
- Adiuro vos
- Vox dilecti
- Uri Tsafon (published by earthsongs in piano/violin arr.)
- Amid the Scent of Absinthe and Moringa (premiered by the Princeton Singers 2002. Winner 2004 Nuvovox Choral Award)
- Grief was Between Us
Utopia, a 20-minute work for Choir and Orchestra with text by Wislawa Szymborska. Premiered by the Prague Radio Orchestra and the Grinnell Singers 2000.
Works for Mixed Choir
Amara (2014) for choir with optional jazz saxophone. Published by Walton Music 2017. Premiered by Roomful of Teeth, April, 2014. Video Recording; Missouri State University Chorale. York University Chorale Norfolk Choral Festival
And Glory Shone Around premiered by the Marsh Chapel Choir, Boston University, December, 2013.
Body My House, poem by May Swenson, for unaccompanied Choir
Calm on the Listening Ear of Night for choir and guitar. Winner of the 2006 Welcome Christmas carol contest sponsored by VocalEssence, premiered by VocalEssence, and recorded on their Behold this Heavenly Night CD. YouTube version
Earth’s Remotest Bound for SATB choir (commissioned and premiered by the Rose Ensemble)
Garden Among the Flames (2009) for SATB choir and harp; commissioned and premiered by the Rose Ensemble
I Look For You Early, for choir, saxophone, and organ; Oxford University Press, 2003.
Job’s Lament for vielle, hurdy-gurdy, and mixed choir (commissioned and premiered by the Rose Ensemble) text from Job, in Hebrew. (Alternative title “Man that is Born of a Woman”)
Kyrie, for SSAATTBB choir. 2022
Praise Beginnings, Praise the End, for SSAATTBB choir. Text by Joy Harjo, with phrases from the Gloria movement of the Latin mass.
Psalm 22, For unaccompanied choir
Root of All Things for SSAATTBB choir (2008). text by Hildegard von Bingen
Set Me As a Seal for SATB choir with divisi. Roger Dean Publishing 2009. Commissioned by the Iowa Choral Conductors Association, premiered by Magnum Chorum.
The Twenty-Third Psalm for Choir and Organ. Commissioned by the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Brooklyn, New York, October, 2006. Text in Hebrew and English.
Three Things Meet in My Eyes, for choir and saxophone quartet; a setting of a text by the 13th century Jewish Andalusian poet, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, in a translation by Peter Cole. 2003. (Performed Grinnell UCC church, November, 2004.)
To the World’s Edge, for choir and brass quintet. Commissioned for the 160th anniversary of Grinnell United Church of Christ. Text from Psalm 19.
Uri tsafon (Awake, O North Wind) for choir, violin, and piano. Earthsongs, 2003.
The Wind Blew in the Cold Furrow, for choir and piano. (Choral version of a portion of “Into the Still Hollow”). Premiered by the Princeton Singers, June, 2004.
We Are Servants Of God, Oxford University Press, 2002.
Works for Women’s Choir
Beauty By Beauty, for SSA choir and harp. Text by Joy Harjo. Premiere: April 22, 2023 by Vox Feminae
Poem of Light for SSAA choir, harp, and dumbek. earthsongs publishing, 2010. Premiered by the Rose Ensemble. Girl Choir of South Florida Recording on
Opera/Musical Theatre Works
Das Rheingold (2014) Fifty-minute original operatic work for 8 singers, piano, cello, and electronic materials. Part of the government-sponsored “Revolutionizing The Ring” project in Taipei. Premiered by Riverbed Theatre, Craig Quintero, director, June, 2014. Audio excerpts: Scene 1;Scene 2; Scene 3; Scene 4; Trailer video
The First Time I Walked on The Moon (2017-18). Concert-Length theatre piece by Craig Quintero, with music by John Rommereim. Performed at the Taiwan International Festival of Arts and the Tainan Arts Festival in Taiwan, and at the BeSeTo Festival in Kwangju, South Korea in 2018. View Trailer.
Solo Vocal Music
Elegy for a Walnut Tree for baritone and piano. Text by W. S. Merwin.
For the Anniversary of My Death for baritone and piano. Text by W. S. Merwin.
I Asked the Crow, for medium voice and piano
Into the Still Hollow for baritone and piano 12’. Text by W. S. Merwin. Completed July, 2004. Recording: Symphony Space NY performance by Thomas Meglioranza February 9, 2006. recording excerpt
It Nests Within Each Cell for baritone and piano. Text by May Swenson. written for the wedding of Helen Stuhr-Rommereim and Michael Schapira
LND — a meditation on the Last Normal Day, for piano and voice with electronic effects.
The Gift for baritone and piano.
I Allow Myself to be Deceived for baritone, piano, and metronome. Text by Albert Einstein.
Rings of Birchbark for baritone and piano. Text by A. R. Ammons.
These Heavy Sands are Language for soprano and string quartet. Text from Ulysses by James Joyce. Voce String Quartet with Rosie O’Brien, soprano. YouTube version
Music for Larger Ensembles
Zhivago’s Lullabye, for string orchestra (arrangement of middle movement of string quartet) premiered April 2008, by the Iowa City Community String Orchestra, Carey Bostian, conductor
Chamber Music
Anuli for piano and flute
A Field Guide to Summer (2013) five piano miniatures to poetry by Dean Bakopoulos and artwork by Lee Running.
Sappho, Pasternak, Cervantes; Three Movements for String Quartet
Cameron’s Fanfare (2015) for brass quintet
Gesangvoll — Variations on a Theme by Beethoven (2018) for oboe and organ
Jerusalem the Golden Variations for solo flute.
Meditation on “When in Our Music” for string trio. Commissioned by the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Brooklyn, New York.
Meditation on “Lauda Anima” for saxophone and organ. Chorale prelude. Version for organ solo.
Humanitas et Veritas (2015) for organ (a version of Cameron’s Fanfare)
Shifting Skies, for two solo alto flutes and flute ensemble. Composed collaboratively with the flute duo Zawa! (Claudia Anderson and Jill Felber). Premiered by Zawa! and Fresh Flutes, May, 2016.
Since This Was In Your Heart for brass quintet. A prelude based on the “Engelberg” hymn tune. Premiered at the Grinnell United Church of Christ at the 160th anniversary celebration. (Recording from church service Oct. 11, 2015)
Three Chorale Preludes for solo organ. Commissioned by the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Brooklyn, New York.
Snap for flute duo and electronics. Permiered by the ZAWA flute duo, June, 2017
Stepping Out with Heraclitus for saxophone quartet. Completed January 2005 Premiered by the River Cities Saxophone Quartet, March, 2007.
Upon the Blue Guitar, three movements for solo guitar. First movement premiered by Oren Fader of the New York-based Fireworks Ensemble at the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene, Oregon, June 2005. Second movement premiered by Aaron Powell at Simpson College, October, 2005. Third Movement premiered by Zane Merrit, at Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 30, 2008.
Weather Conversations (2014) electronic components of a composition written collaboratively with Claudia Anderson, recorded on the CD In This World, by Claudia Anderson.
Improvised Recordings
Amara. John Rommereim, piano, Mark Laver, saxophone. Recorded February 22, 2015. YouTube video
Out There. John Rommereim, piano, Mark Laver, saxophone. Recorded November 8, 2015.
Prayer for Kunduz. John Rommereim, piano, Mark Laver, saxophone. Recorded November 8, 2015. YouTube video
The Things You Think You’ll Miss. John Rommereim, piano, Mark Laver, saxophone. Recorded November 8, 2015.
Piano Diaries. 15 pieces for piano improvised in the summer of 2019