Carl's Super Fancy Bio

Carl Oser (he/him) is a vocalist, pianist, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has taught music for over ten years including at K-12 institutions such as Miramonte High School (SF Bay Area) and Seaside High School (Monterey County, CA). At the university level he has taught at San Jose State University, Las Positas College, and at Berklee College of Music’s Quito, Ecuador affiliate, Universidad San Francisco de Quito.

As a pedagogue, Carl is particularly passionate about (to paraphrase Paulo Freire) engaging students “critically and creatively with reality” so that they may “discover how to participate in the transformation of their world.” He has directed vocal ensembles of many shapes and sizes and has taught courses ranging from Digital Music Production to Jazz History to Songwriting to AP Music Theory.

Carl is proud to perform as one half of the musical duo kartercarl. From 2021-2022 he performed as a core member of the Los Angeles-based vocal ensemble Tonality where he performed at the Western Region American Choral Directors Association Conference, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and on the soundtrack to National Geographic’s series America the Beautiful. As a collaborative pianist he has accompanied many a choir, cabaret, and musical theater productions.

In 2023 Carl directed the Analy High School Chamber Singers in collaboration with 10-time Grammy winner Bobby McFerrin for four standing-room-only performances at the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center.

Carl earned a graduate degree in Choral Conducting from San Jose State University. His graduate recital theater featured over 40 performers, 150 audience members, and the North American premiere of Maarten De Splenter’s Pax Pro Patria for saxophone quartet and choir. Carl graduated magna cum laude from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California where he studied with Grammy-winning pianist Russell Ferrante.