Erol Ozsever has served on USF’s Music Faculty since 2017 as the Director of Classical and Popular Guitar Studies and Music Theory Instructor since 2019. His responsibilities at USF include teaching classical guitar studio, Music Theory I & II, and directing the Popular Music Ensemble.
In 2007, Ozsever graduated cum laude from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Guitar Performance and a minor in Recording Industry Management. During his senior year, he was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award in guitar performance. That same year he was awarded a graduate teaching assistantship to work with EMI recording artist Ernesto Bitetti at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. In 2009 he graduated magna cum laude with a Master of Music Degree in Guitar Performance with a minor in Early Music. He continued his studies at Indiana to earn a Doctor of Music Degree in 2014.
Erol has received numerous recognitions and competition prizes including the top prize for graduate strings in the 2008 Indianapolis Matinee Musicale and 1st prize at the 2009 Rosario Guitar Competition. He is also the founder and former co-director of the Indiana International Guitar Festival and Competition. Erol has performed in concert halls across the country and has shared the stage with members of the Carmel Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, and has performed as a featured soloist with the Pinellas Park Orchestra. He has published solo guitar arrangements and articles on the psychology of motor learning and has presented at symposia throughout the country. He recently published “The Oz Guitar Method” and “The Oz Ukulele Method” through F-flat Books
