Carlos Odria, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Music and Interdisciplinary Arts in WSU’s Visual and Performing Arts Department. In this role, Odria offers WSU students his expertise in modern guitar performance, world music, jazz, and ethnomusicology. In addition, he founded and directs Musica!, WSU’s first Latin American ensemble.
Odria’s academic research explores the intersections between music-making, innovation, and bodily practice. He has published articles in the leading peer-reviewed journals within his area of expertise, including: Ethnomusicology, Latin American Music Review, and Ethnomusicology Forum. Other publications include a book chapter in “The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation” and articles in Mundos Plurales and Cuadernos de Etnomusicología. In addition, he has been a guest speaker at Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (Lima, Peru), Middlebury College, Tallahassee Community College, University of North Georgia,Tennessee Tech University, and University of Oregon among others
As a guitarist, Odria has shared the stage with jazz and world music artists such as Jeff Denson, Longineu Parsons, Leon Anderson, Jacksonville Children’s Chorus, Mlimani Park Orchestra, Mia Gormandy, Haigiong Deng, Silviu Ciulei, Jorge Continentino, Sheila del Bosque, Jeff Brooks, and Etienne Charles. He has performed his World Jazz Explorations concert at academic institutions such as UMass Boston, Clark University, Middlesex Community College, Muskingum University, and Darton State College. In addition, Odria has been a featured artist at national and regional festivals such as the Florida Folk Fest, Gamble Rogers Fest, and Worcester Jazz Fest. His most recent project, the Carlos Odria Trio (COT) was nominated for Best International Artist of the Year 2020 by the Boston Music Awards.
Other highlights of Odria’s career include: the debut album of Omnimusica, an ensemble in which he was the lead guitarist, was included on the official ballot for the 57th Grammy Awards, in the World Music category (2014). His album El Rio was included in Worcester Magazine’s top 10 album in New England (2019).
