Holly Wissler
Holly Wissler, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Instruction at Texas State University, where she teaches Western Classical Music History, World Music Cultures, and Fine Arts. An applied ethnomusicologist, documentary filmmaker, and cultural tour leader, she has extensive field experience in Peru and Nepal and has worked as a local expert in Peru for organizations including National Geographic and Wilderness Travel.
In Fall 2026, Dr. Wissler serves as Guest Faculty at Vijaybhoomi University’s True School of Music in the state of Maharashtra, near Mumbai, India, where she teaches world music, ethnomusicology, and music history. As a representative of Texas State University’s School of Music, she is also exploring opportunities for collaborative exchange and academic partnerships between the two institutions. In Spring 2027, she will serve as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar at Kathmandu University in Nepal, teaching ethnomusicology and pursuing research and collaborative work.
Dr. Wissler’s ethnomusicological research centers on the musical traditions and contemporary transformations of Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Andes and Amazon, particularly the Quechua community of Q’eros. Her work explores Indigenous theories of music, audiovisual archives and repatriation, cultural preservation, sustainable tourism, and music as a medium for expressions of grief, loss, and healing. Her research has been published in English and Spanish, including contributions to Ethnomusicology Forum, The Oxford Handbook of Musical Repatriation, and ReSounding Loss: Music, Grief, and Culture.
Her applied work extends from scholarship to documentary filmmaking and cultural advocacy. She produced and directed Qoyllur Rit’i: A Woman’s Journey, documenting Peru’s largest pilgrimage festival and her participation within it, and Kusisqa Waqashayku (From Grief and Joy We Sing), an ethnographic documentary exploring the annual cycle of musical rituals in Q’eros. Her most recent documentary, Dante’s Story: The Fight for Deaf Rights in Peru (2026), expands her work into Deaf culture and advocacy. Following the intertwined stories of her adopted Deaf son, Dante, and members of Peru’s Deaf community, the film addresses language access, education, communication, identity, and Deaf rights in Peru.
Dr. Wissler has also collaborated with Indigenous communities and Peruvian institutions on cultural preservation and representation. She helped organize and present the Wachiperi delegation at the 2015 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and collaborated with Peru’s Ministry of Tourism on documentation related to Q’eros traditional musical heritage.
A classically trained flutist, Dr. Wissler holds master’s degrees in Flute Performance and Music History from the University of Idaho and a PhD in Musicology, with an emphasis in Ethnomusicology, from Florida State University. A classically trained flutist, she also performs on several Andean instruments and speaks English, Spanish, Quechua, Nepali, and American Sign Language.