Carter Brey (born 1954) is an American cello virtuoso. He had a prolific solo career from 1981 until 1996 when he became the principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, a position he still holds today.

Carter Brey was born in Montclair, New Jersey and grew up in Westchester County, New York. He began playing the violin at age 9 and the cello at age 12 in school, although he did not seriously consider becoming a professional musician until he was 16. He studied under Laurence Lesser and Stephen Kates at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute and later with Aldo Parisot at Yale University, where he was a Wardell Fellow and a Houpt Scholar. He taught at the University of South Florida in between his time at Peabody and Yale. In 1979 he joined the Cleveland Orchestra where he played for two seasons.