Carola Murphy

Percussion

Dr. Carola Murphy started playing classical music at age 5 when she entered the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, Peru. She studied classical piano for 15 years at the conservatory, along with many other instruments. Carola moved to the US when she was 20 to attend college, continuing to play in rock bands around Pennsylvania. She also learned to play Brazilian percussion in Bahia with the groups Olodum, Timbalanda and Ile Aiye.

After moving to Tucson, she played Brazilian percussion and music with groups like Sambalanco. Linus Lerner heard her direct Sambalanco and invited her to play with SASO. She is constantly learning more and more about classical percussion and enjoys very much her time playing with SASO. She is a professor of foreign languages at Pima Community College’s Downtown Campus.