Carmel Raz

Carmel Raz is a Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, leading the Histories of Music, Mind, and Body research group. She holds a PhD in Music Theory from Yale University (2015), a Master’s in Composition from the University of Chicago (2006), and a Diplom in Violin Performance from the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin (2004). Her research bridges music theory, cognitive science, and historical studies, focusing on the intersection of music with mind-body theories, particularly in the Romantic and Enlightenment eras.

Her work explores proto-cognitive music theory in the Scottish Enlightenment, Victorian spiritualism’s musical instruments, and neurophysiological concepts in composers like Berlioz. Key publications include *Hearing with the Mind* (forthcoming, OUP) and articles in *Journal of Music Theory*, *Journal of the American Musicological Society*, and *Music Theory Spectrum*. Raz has received awards such as the 2024 Emerging Scholar Award and grants totaling over £30k from the AHRC.

Raz co-edits volumes like *The Attentive Ear* (UPenn Press) and *Thinking Music: Global Sources* (Chicago UP). She also contributes to Grove Music Online and leads interdisciplinary projects on music and health, combining historical and scientific perspectives.