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Elina G. Asato Hamilton is a historical musicologist specializing in medieval music theory in fourteenth-century England and the history of Western music in Japan. She is the author of Sweet Consonance: Musical Discourse in England, 1280–1370 (forthcoming with Liverpool University Press) and has published articles in Studi musicali, Musica Disciplina, Notes, as well as chapters in several edited volumes. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, she taught courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Bangor University (Wales) and was awarded the prestigious Drapers’ Company Medal from the London-based guild for Outstanding Postgraduate Research. Her Bachelor of Music in piano performance is from Portland State University, where she studied piano with Mary Kogen and Harold Gray and composition with Bryan Johanson.

Hamilton presents her research regularly including at national and regional meetings of the American Musicological Society, the International Musicological Society Quinquennial Conference in Tokyo, numerous Medieval and Renaissance Music Conferences, and at institutions including All Souls College, Oxford; the University of Southern California; the University of St. Andrews; Charles University; Princeton University; MIT; and Yale University. She has been featured by the Committee on the Status of Women for the Society of Music Theory and has appeared as a guest on NPR’s The World. She is an editorial board member of the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture and an Affiliate Member of the Center for Japanese Studies at UH Mānoa. She received the Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching from the University of Hawai‘i Office of Faculty Development in recognition of her exceptional teaching effectiveness, creativity, and commitment to student success.

Recent Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

“Philippe de Vitry in England: Musical Quotations in the Quatuor principalia and the Gratissima Tenors.” In Studi Musicali Nuova serie 9 (2018): 9–46.

“The Unique Patroness: Louise Hanson-Dyer’s Letters to the Library of Congress, 1936–52.” In Notes 73 (2017): 631–57.

“Walter of Evesham’s De speculatione musicae: Authority of Music Theory in Medieval England.” In Musica Disciplina 58 (2013): 153–66.

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

“Louise Hanson-Dyer (1884–1962): Patroness of Early Music Publishing.” In The Routledge Handbook of Women’s Work in Music, 397–406. Edited by Rhiannon Mathias. Routledge, 2021.

“Twin Treatises on Music: Exploring Anglo-Bohemian Connections of Kepler and Fludd in the Struggle for Modernity.” In Renaissance Music in the Slavic World, 195–208.  Edited by Philippe Vendrix et al. Brepols, 2019.

“And in England, there are Singers: Grafting Oneself into the Origin of Music.” In Music, Myth and Story in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 46–59. Edited by Samantha Bassler and Katherine Butler. Boydell & Brewer, 2019.

Other Publications

“Walter Odington (Walter of Evesham Abbey), De speculatione musicae.” In Lexikon Schriften über Musik, Band 1: Musiktheorie von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, 357. Bärenreiter, 2017.

“The Queen is a Doctor of Musicology?” Musicology Now. American Musicological Society blog. Dec. 7, 2016.

“Sources of Identity: Makers, Owners and Users of Music Sources before 1600.” Conference review (with Eleanor Giraud), Royal Musical Association Newsletter 18 (April 2014): 7.

“Gothic Revolution: Music in Western Europe 1100-1300.” Conference review in Early Music 40 (Feb. 2012): 159–60.

“The First Translation of the Scolica enchiriadis into Japanese.” In The Soul of Wit: Micro-Festschrift Rob Wegman zum 50. Geburtstag, fol. 28r. Edited by Michael Scott Cuthbert. Somerville, Mass., 2011.

Media Coverage

Social Media

Country Focus

England, Japan

Expertise by Geography

British Isles, Japan, Western Europe

Expertise by Chronology

Medieval, Pre-17th century, 19th century, 20th century

Expertise by Topic

Book History, Libraries & Archives, Pedagogy