Rommel Fernandes is currently the Associate Concertmaster of the Minas Gerais Philharmonic Orchestra in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (Founded in 2008 with musicians from Brazil and across the world, the MGPO has rapidly established itself as a prominent symphony orchestra, having received a 2020 Latin Grammy Award nomination for one of its latest Naxos label recordings.)Prior to his MGPO appointment, Rommel Fernandes was based in Chicago, USA where he maintained an active performing and teaching career. He has been a guest musician at MusicNOW, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's contemporary music series. He has also played in live broadcasts for WFMT (Chicago's fine arts radio station), as well as in solo performances alongside Jacques Israelievitch (former Concertmaster, Toronto Symphony Orchestra) and in collaboration with Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble.Critically acclaimed for his "superb playing and aristocratic musicianship" as well as for his "high spirited, modernist, yet elegant reinvention" of the traditional repertoire, he also stands out as a performer of contemporary music. Recent concert engagements have included world premieres of works by Douglas Boyce (Floruit Egregiis, for violin and cello) and Silvio Ferraz (Partita II, for solo violin), as well as Brazilian premieres of works by Pierre Boulez (Anthèmes I, for solo violin) and Mario Mary (Aarhus, for violin and electronics), among others.Rommel Fernandes was a violin student of Gerardo Ribeiro at Northwestern University (USA) and of Ayrton Pinto at São Paulo State University in Brazil. He has also received coaching from violinists Andrés Cárdenes, Marylou Speaker Churchill, Viktor Danchenko, Sándor Devich, Leonard Felberg, Pamela Frank, Marcello Guerchfeld, Sidney Harth, Alberto Jaffé, Malcolm Lowe, Ruggiero Ricci, Jerrold Rubenstein, Kurt Sassmanshaus, Joseph Silverstein, Leon Spierer and Almita Vamos.Rommel Fernandes has served as a faculty member at North Park University in Chicago. He currently teaches privately and he is frequently invited to give masterclasses on violin solo, chamber and orchestral repertoire, as well as to participate in Master's and Doctoral committees. He is faculty at Academia Filarmônica, the MGPO's newly established orchestral academy.He performs on an Italian violin from late 18th century, attributed to the Gagliano family, with a French bow made in the 1810s by Jacob Eury.