Omar Carmenates is the Charles Ezra Daniel Professor of Music at Furman University in Greenville, SC where he also serves as the founder and chair of the Council for Equity and Inclusion in Music. Under his direction, the Furman University Percussion Ensemble was named a winner the prestigious 2022 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition and, in collaboration with the Shi Institute for Sustainability, has also released premiere recordings of the ecoacoustic percussion music of composer Matthew Burtner through Navona Records. Students of the ensemble have also presented interdisciplinary performances and research at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Ecomusics and Ecomusicologies conference, the nief-norf Summer Festival Research Summit, the International Conference on Romanticism, and the Esri International GIS User Conference.

Omar is also the director, producer, and arranger for the “John Psathas Percussion Project”, a collaboration aimed at recording and performing percussion arrangements of the works of John Psathas, New Zealand’s most prominent composer. The recordings and scores from this project are published through PARMA Recordings and Promethean Publications respectively. Omar’s debut solo recording, entitled The Gaia Theory, was released through Rattle Records in 2013 and he can also be heard on the Cantaloupe Records release of Pulitzer-Prize winning composer John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit for 9-99 outdoor percussionists, a work that he both co-commissioned and directed in its United States premiere.

In addition to his duties at Furman, Omar is an avid participant in the pageantry arts whose work can be seen and heard around the globe. While currently serving as an adjudicator for WGI Sport of the Arts, he has also served as a composer/arranger for the Cadets, the Boston Crusaders, and the Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps. Additionally, he has been the percussion arranger for high school programs across the United States including the Bands of America Grand National Champion Tarpon Springs High School Outdoor Performance Ensemble.

Omar is a proud endorser/artist for Grover Pro Percussion, Vic Firth, Inc. Remo Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, and Pearl Corporation/Adams Musical Instruments.

Watch Omar perform with the Furman University Percussion Ensemble