Faculty

Biography

Cory Hunter holds a dual appointment as the James P. Wilmot Distinguished Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Rochester and Assistant Professor of Musicology at Eastman School of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Eastman School of Music in 2006 with distinction, a Master of Divinity and Certificate of Music from Yale Divinity School and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in 2009, and his PhD in musicology from Princeton University in 2016. With training in both musicological and ethnomusicological methods, Dr. Hunter specializes in African American popular music, with a specific focus in Black gospel music. His current book project Spiritual Realness in Black Gospel Music Discourse and Practice provides a theoretical framework for studying how Black gospel artists construct realness—i.e. articulations of transparency, candor, and interiority—in their music and discourses. More specifically, Spiritual Realness engages in groundbreaking analysis by revealing the ways in which Black gospel artists have accommodated the popular cultural infatuation with realness to maintain the relevancy of gospel music and the church. Hunter considers the ways in which the real is articulated in relation to several twenty-first century gospel practices, some of which include worship albums, gospel love albums, and gospel reality shows. Hunter’s work is deeply interdisciplinary, intersecting with musicological and ethnomusicological studies, voice studies, media studies, ritual theory, religious studies, gender and sexuality studies, and performance studies.

As a recipient of numerous fellowships and awards to support his research, Dr. Hunter received the Carter G. Woodson Predoctoral Fellowship at the University of Virginia (2015-2017), the Postdoctoral Fellowship in American Studies at Brandeis University (2017-2018), and the Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African American Studies at the University of Rochester (2018-2019). He is also the recipient of the Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Researchers (2023-2024) and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music Long-Term Research Fellowship (2023-2024).

Dr. Hunter’s music performance career began as a boy soprano and lead soloist for the world-renowned Boys Choir of Harlem. He has toured internationally, performing in concert halls across Europe and Canada as well as in some of the most prestigious US venues such as the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Apollo Theater. He also performed and was featured as a soloist on Good Morning America, Nightline, and The Rosie O’Donnell Show, among a host of other television programs. In addition to his commitment to rigorous scholarship and performance, Dr. Hunter is also an ordained minister who remains active in service to his local church and community.