Alan Carter and the Vermont State Orchestra Papers

Destined to become one of Vermont's foremost musicians, Alan Carter was born in Greenwich, Connecticut on July 29, 1904. After attending Mannes Music School in New York City, Mr. Carter went abroad. From 1924 to 1928 he studied music in Cologne, Munich, and Paris, where he made his debut in a violin recital. Returning to New York City in 1929, Mr. Carter formed the Cremona String Quartet, in which he played viola.

Alan Carter's music career in Vermont spanned some forty years. In 1934 he founded the Vermont State Symphony Orchestra, which was later to become the nation's first official state symphony with a legislative appropriation. That same year he married Barbara Kent, daughter of noted artist Rockwell Kent. During World War II, Carter served as captain in the U.S. Army and was in charge of an Army orchestra. Having joined the Middlebury College faculty as a music instructor in 1939, he rose to become full professor and chairman of the music department in 1959, a position he held until retirement ten years later. While there, he founded and presided over the Middlebury College Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center, Inc., both of which later transferred to Bennington College and finally, Johnson State College. Despite these duties, Mr. Carter found time to guest-conduct for many orchestras, including the Hartford (Conn.) Symphony and the Boston Pops.

One of Mr. Carter's highest achievements was the receipt in 1968 of the Alice M. Ditson Award presented by Columbia University to a conductor "for outstanding service to the performance of contemporary music." In 1972, he received the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence of the Arts, of which Mr. Carter was a trustee for seven years and president in 1966-67. He received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Vermont in 1955. On September 22, 1975, Mr. Carter died.