Cello Master Class: David Carter

Cellist David Carter, Professor of Music at St. Olaf, holds degrees from the University of Minnesota, Indiana University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His principal cello teachers include Robert Jamieson, Gary Hoffman, Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. Though legally blind as a result of the retinal disease choroideremia, Dr. Carter maintains an active performing and teaching schedule. At St. Olaf he teaches studio cello, chamber music, String Techniques courses for non music majors, and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Music Department. Dr. Carter was founder and past Artistic Director of the Bridge Chamber Music Festival, performed for many years as cellist of the Melius Trio, and recently served as Cello Editor for the Minnesota String Teachers Association newsletter, StringNotes.

Dr. Carter’s previous faculty positions include the Wichita State University and Illinois Wesley and University. He served as Principal Cellist of the Wichita Symphony, performing as soloist with that ensemble in addition to the Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. His summer teaching positions have included the Rocky Ridge Music Center, the Red Lodge Music Festival, and until 2019 the Interlochen Summer Music Camp. Recent performances in clude concerto appearances with the Century Chamber Orchestra and the Winona State University Chamber Orchestra, and recitals and master classes at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Texas Tech University, Eastern Washington University and the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Over a 35 year career of college teaching, Dr. Carter’s students have gone on to study cello at some of the nation’s top graduate schools, including the New England Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University and Indiana University. Cello students from St. Olaf hold positions in major symphony orchestras and university teaching positions, while many non-major students continue their life-long passion for music and the cello.
Dr. Carter can be heard on two recordings on the Centaur label, in “Three Pieces for Solo Cello” by Phillip Rhodes and works by Amy Beach, and on the Limestone label with the Melius Trio in trios by Mendelssohn, Clarke and Peter Hamlin. He performs on a cello made by David Folland (2008, Northfield, MN.)