Richard Charteris is Emeritus Professor in Historical Musicology at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney. A New Zealand-born Australian musicologist, he earned a BA from Victoria University of Wellington in 1970, followed by an MA in 1972 and a PhD in 1976 from the University of Canterbury, with his doctoral dissertation examining the works of the 16th-century English composer John Coprario. His academic career includes research fellowships at the University of Sydney from 1976 to 1978 and 1981 to 1990, a research fellowship at the University of Queensland from 1979 to 1980, a senior research fellowship (reader) in musicology at the University of Sydney from 1991 to 1994, and appointment as Professor of Musicology in 1995. Charteris holds qualifications including ATCL and has been recognized with election as Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1990 and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2002, along with the Centenary Medal in 2003.

Charteris's research focuses on European music of the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly Venetian music, historically informed performance practices, and composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli, Giovanni Bassano, and the Ferrabosco family (Alfonso Ferrabosco the elder, younger, and III). He has prepared critical editions of their works and authored extensive studies on J.C. Bach, Giovanni Croce, Hans Leo Hassler, John Hingeston, Thomas Lupo, Claudio Monteverdi, and Adam Gumpelzhaimer. Key publications include his editorship of Essays on Italian Music in the Cinquecento (1990), John Coprario: The Two- and Four-Part Consort Music (second revised edition, 1993), Newly Discovered Music Manuscripts from the Private Collection of Emil Bohn (1999), and An Annotated Catalogue of the Music Manuscripts in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C. (2005). Charteris has collaborated with early music ensembles, including Paul McCreesh's Gabrieli Consort & Players, contributing to recordings on labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, EMI Classics, and Hyperion. In 2025, he curated and donated the Charteris Collection—comprising over 200 first and rare editions of works by Mozart and Beethoven—to the University of Sydney Library, establishing the largest such collection in the Southern Hemisphere to support scholarly research and study.

Professional Email: richard.charteris@sydney.edu.au