Stewart Carter

Professor

Music Theory, Music History, Collegium Musicum, and Trombone

Stewart Carter teaches music history and music theory and directs the instrumental component of the Collegium Musicum, an ensemble devoted to the performance of music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras. He is Past-President of the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music and also of the American Musical Instrument Society. He serves as Editor of the Historic Brass Society Journal and General Editor of Bucina: The Historic Brass Society Series. He was formerly Editor of Historical Performance, the Journal of Early Music America.

Carter recently published The Trombone in The Renaissance: A History in Pictures and Documents (Pendragon, 2012). He has edited several book-length publications, including Instruments, Ensembles, and Repertory, 1300–1600: Essays in Honour of Keith Polk (with Timothy J. McGee, Brepols, 2013); A Performer’s Guide to Seventeenth-Century Music, 2nd edn., revised and expanded by Jeffery Kite-Powell (Indiana, 2012); Brass Scholarship in Review (Pendragon, 2006); Perspectives in Brass Scholarship (Pendragon, 2006). He has published articles and reviews in the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, Early Music, Historical Performance, MLA Notes, Performance Practice Review, New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, New Catholic Encyclopedia, and Instrumental Odyssey: Essays in Honor of Herbert Heyde.

Carter’s research areas has long focused on music of the seventeenth century and the history of brass instruments. Recently he has branched out, working on musical instruments in China—in particular, encounters between Chinese and European musicians. His research has taken him to several cities in the People’s Republic of China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Suzhou, Hong Kong, and Dunhuang.

An active performer on early instruments, Carter plays sackbut, recorder, and viola da gamba. He has performed in many locations in the United States, as well as in Europe and Taiwan. He has taught at early music workshops throughout the United States, including the Amherst Early Music Festival. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in the same field from the University of Illinois. He earned his Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford University.

Stewart Carter Headshot