Asher Carlson

adjunct professor of music

Email: abcarlson@usf.edu
Phone: (813) 974-2311
Office: MUS 316

Asher Carlson has served as a faculty member of the USF School of Music since 2023, teaching Foundations of Music Education, Progressive Music Education, and clarinet. His duties within the clarinet studio include private lessons, studio classes/masterclasses, and conducting the USF Clarinet Choir.

An active orchestral and chamber musician, Carlson’s musical pursuits have taken him on tours across the continental United States, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Italy, Ireland, and Kenya. He currently holds positions as Principal Clarinetist of the Venice Symphony (FL), Principal Bass Clarinetist of the Tallahassee Symphony (FL), and performs with the Candlelight Processional Orchestra at EPCOT in Walt Disney World. An advocate of new music, he has composed, arranged, commissioned, and premiered dozens of works for clarinet and bass clarinet across the globe.

Outside of USF, Carlson teaches on the faculty of State College of Florida, Florida College, the Saarburg Festival in Germany, and the annual clarinet intensive at the Interlochen Center for the Arts (MI). He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the Florida State University (under Frank Kowalsky and Deborah Bish), a Master's Degree in Music Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (under Anthony Taylor and Kelly Burke), and is currently ABD toward a PhD in Music Education with a cognate in Clarinet Performance from the University of South Florida.