Greensboro native Brian Carter is a rock and classical music lecturer and classical singer. Originally trained as a cellist, he discovered classical singing in his late twenties and went on to pursue vocal studies earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, a Master of Music degree from the University of Houston, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Michigan. He has been teaching as a lecturer in the College of Visual and Performing Arts at UNCG since 2018 and is also a member of the voice faculty at Elon University. Prior to coming home to UNCG, he taught at the Washington State University School of Music where he specialized in voice, vocal pedagogy and literature, and History of Rock Music.
As a performer, Dr. Carter was heralded by the San Francisco Classical Voice as “a Wagnerian vocalist who can sing the sword out of Wotan’s tree.” On the operatic stage, he has performed with companies such as San Francisco Opera Company’s Merola Opera Program, Opera North, the Wagner Society of Washington DC and Greensboro Opera Company appearing in Der Freischütz, La Bohéme, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Katya Kabanova, Cavalleria Rusticana, Love for Three Oranges, Angélique, The Spanish Hour, Otello, Carmen, Don Pasquale, Tosca, Amahl and the Night Visitors and Un Ballo in Maschera, among others.
Dr. Carter also appears frequently in concert with credits including Handel’s Messiah, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Faure’s Requiem, Daron Hagen’s Heart of a Stranger, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Requiem, and Missa Brevis in G, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, Copland’s Old American Songs, Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, numerous renderings of Dubois’ The Seven Last Words of Christ and the world premiere of Ming-Hsiu Yen’s Mandarin requiem Song of Life. He has appeared as a soloist for the Washington-Idaho Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Northwest Symphonic Orchestra, the Dearborn Symphony, the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland, the North Carolina Music Educators Association, the Piedmont Wind Symphony, the Fibonacci Chamber Orchestra, and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. Dr. Carter is an active recitalist and maintains a private voice studio as well as regularly teaching master classes and clinics for schools and universities. He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and has been awarded with inductions into Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda honorary fraternities. In addition to his degrees in vocal performance, he also holds a degree in Communications/Broadcasting from Appalachian State University.