His thesis, Luca Marenzio and the Italian Madrigal, 1577-1593, was published as a book (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press) in 1981.
In his writings several previously anonymous madrigal texts are identified, and the intimate ties between poets, musicians and patrons are explored.
Chater was a Fellow of the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies Archived 2 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine (Villa I Tatti, Florence) from 1981–82.
Most of his liturgical works are written to texts in the English, Dutch and French languages, with a few other compositions in Church Slavonic.
In 2008 a recording of his Great Prokeimenon for Forgiveness Sunday, sung by the Orthodox Choir of Joensuu University [1] directed by Petri Nykänen, was issued on as part of the CD anthology "Oi Kuningas ja Herra" ("O King and Lord").