Louis Setzer is the Lecturer of Low Brass at Northern Kentucky University. Prior to his appointment at NKU, he served as Instructor of Low Brass at Marian University of Indianapolis, where he taught low brass lessons, aural skills, music theory, directed the pep band, and worked as staff for the concert and marching bands.
Dr. Setzer is the author of Solo Literature for Trombone and Harp – An Annotated Bibliography. This book contains information on over 200 solos, transcriptions, trios, quartets and chamber works featuring the trombone and harp. He has commissioned and recorded several works for trombone and harp as a direct result of this book. In 2017 he and NKU’s own Instructor of Harp, Joseph Rebman, formed the JOLO Duo. Their mission is to raise awareness for this genre of music through performance, and collaboration of new works. JOLO Duo released their debut album in February 2020, JOLO Duo: The Bounds of Spring. It features eight previously unrecorded works for trombone and harp. They maintain an active schedule, and have been invited to perform at international festivals and universities throughout the country.
Recent solo engagements include performing Frank Gulino’s Capriccio with the Indiana Wind Symphony, Joseph Turrin’s Fandango with the Marian University Wind Ensemble, and his own arrangement of Four Songs from Dichterliebe at the American Trombone Workshop. In addition JOLO Duo has performed for both the International Trombone Festival and the American Trombone Workshop’s Guest Artist Recital series. Dr. Setzer was a featured soloist of the Penn State alumni trombone choir on their concert tour of Santiago Cuba – an experience he will not soon forget.
Dr. Setzer earned his BM in Music Education from Mansfield University of Pennsylvania (’11), his MM in Trombone Performance (’13) from The Pennsylvania State University, where he served as the Graduate Teaching Assistant for Mark Lusk, and his DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (’17). His primary teachers were Stephen McEuen, Mark Lusk, Timothy Anderson, and Peter Norton
