Dr. Gary Tomlinson

Biography

Gary Tomlinson is the John Hay Whitney Professor of Music Humanities at Yale University, specializing in musicology with a strong commitment to multidisciplinary exploration. His scholarly work encompasses a diverse range of interests, including the central traditions of European classical music, history of opera, and early-modern musical thought and practice. Tomlinson has authored numerous essays and books that delve into topics such as music in indigenous American societies, jazz, cultural anthropological theory, and the philosophy of music history, as well as affect theory and human evolution. His latest research fuses humanistic theory with archaeology and evolutionary science to explore the cultural forces that have shaped modern humanity. His notable works include 'A Million Years of Music: The Emergence of Human Modernity' and 'Culture and the Course of Human Evolution,' alongside several influential texts on music and history, co-authored with the late Joseph Kerman. An esteemed member of various prestigious societies, Tomlinson has received accolades such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and the MacArthur Award, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He completed his BA at Dartmouth College and earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, prior to joining Yale University in 2010 after serving as the Annenberg Professor of Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania.

Research Interests