The American Record Guide described Jason Dovel’s trumpet playing as “spectacular” and praised his “full tone and terrific technical skills.” Of his debut CD, the International Trumpet Guild Journal reviewer wrote, “On every track, Dovel’s nuanced, stylistic interpretations and technical mastery are on full display.”
Dovel is an American trumpeter whose busy performing and teaching schedule has taken him to over 100 universities and festivals around the world. Recent appearances have included the São Paulo Trumpet Academy (Brazil), Australasian Trumpet Academy (Australia), Velikogorički Brass Festival (Croatia), Conservatoire de Lyon (France), International Brass Course of Thessaloniki (Greece), ViennaTalk (Austria), and the International Trumpet Guild Conference. He is frequently a soloist and guest conductor with the Mantzaros Philharmonic in Corfu, Greece.
Dovel has recorded four solo CDs, manifesting a diverse repertoire from avant-garde contemporary works he commissioned and premiered, to historically informed performances of early music on period instruments.
As an orchestral trumpeter, he has performed with many groups including the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony, and Amici New York Orchestra. He is currently principal trumpet of the Lexington Chamber Orchestra, Lexington Theatre Orchestra, Kentucky Bach, and has also performed as principal or guest principal trumpet with the Orchestra of New Spain, Charlottesville Opera, Lexington Philharmonic, Arkansas Philharmonic, Denton Bach Society, and many other modern orchestras. As a Baroque trumpeter, he regularly appears with many of the country’s leading period instrument groups, including the Washington Bach Consort, Mountainside Baroque, Bourbon Baroque, Virginia Baroque, The Thirteen, and others. He is founding artistic director of the early music group Sonitus Clarissima, who released the CD, Music for Court and Cavalry, in 2019. He also performed with the Washington Bach Consort on their CD, Mythologies Past and Present (2023).
As a chamber musician, he is a founding member of Quintasonic Brass, who were featured artists at the 2023 Velikogorički Brass Festival in Croatia, and PolyChroma Brass, who recently toured Greece with performances in Athens, Ioannina, and Corfu. He also performs and tours with the University of Kentucky Faculty Brass Quintet, with whom he recorded the 2021 compact disc, New Music for Brass Quintet.
A dedicated pedagogue with a passion for research in teaching, he has published twenty-five journal articles in the Music Educators Journal, International Trumpet Guild Journal, The Instrumentalist, and the Journal of the Art College of Inner Mongolia University in China. He is also editor of The Big Book of Sight-Reading Duets for Trumpet, published by Mountain Peak Music.
Also active as a composer and arranger, his works are published through Hickman Music Editions, Mountain Peak Music, Prestissimo Press, Martin Schmid Blechbläsernoten, and the Baroque Trumpet Shop and are frequently programmed on recitals around the world. Dovel joined the University of Kentucky School of Music faculty in 2013, where he is currently Professor of Trumpet. He serves as faculty sponsor of UK Education Abroad programs in Greece and Australia and is also founding director of the UK Summer Trumpet Institute, UK Baroque Trumpet Symposium, as well as the Certificate(s) in Baroque Trumpet. During his 2021 sabbatical, Dovel served as Visiting Professor of Trumpet at Ionian University in Corfu, Greece.
Dovel serves on the Board of Directors for both the International Trumpet Guild and Historic Brass Society. He is currently Vice President/President-Elect of the International Trumpet Guild. Dovel is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Jason Dovel is grateful for the tutelage of many wonderful teachers, including Keith Johnson, George Novak, Charles Saenz, James Kluesner, Charlie Geyer, Barbara Butler, Barry Bauguess (Baroque trumpet), and Bruce Dickey (cornetto).