I was born and raised in Italy, where I studied Art, Music and Performing Arts at the University of Florence and piano at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, before moving to the UK to complete my postgraduate studies at King’s College London. Before joining Northumbria, I was a Junior Research Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Music of the University of Cambridge. I’ve also taught at Oxford Brookes, Goldsmiths and Bristol.
My research considers histories and technologies of operatic performance across the 19th and early 20th centuries. I’ve published articles on Verdi and Italian nation-building, operatic mobility, vocal celebrity culture, and early radio. My first monograph, Networking Operatic Italy (University of Chicago Press, 2021) explores how networks of opera production and critical discourse enabled by new transport and communication technologies shaped Italian cultural identities during the years immediately preceding and following the country’s unification in 1861.
I’ve recently started a new book project that looks at ideas and practices of operatic staging in early 20th-century Italy, at the intersection with developments in painting, cinema, spoken theatre and other arts. I'm also preparing (with Ian Schofield) a critical edition of Donizetti's Otto mesi in due ore for Ricordi.
My interest in sonic and auditory cultures led to the establishment of the ‘Sounding (Out) 19th-Century Italy’ research network (2019-20), funded by a British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award. I was also a founding member of the Leverhulme network ‘Re-imagining italianità: Opera and Musical Culture in Transnational Perspective’ (2016-19), based at UCL and with collaborators at Cambridge, Brown (USA) and Campinas (Brazil).
I serve on the Advisory Board of Durham's Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies, and I lead Northumbria's cross-university Music Research Group.
Public engagement
I’ve written programme notes for institutions including Glyndebourne, Royal Opera House, Scottish Opera and Liceu Opera Barcelona; articles for Opera magazine; and performance reviews for bachtrack.com.
Open Days are a great way for you to get a feel of the University, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the course(s) you are interested in.
Research is the life blood of a University and at Northumbria University we pride ourselves on research that makes a difference; research that has application and affects people's lives.
Find out what life here is all about. From studying to socialising, term time to downtime, we’ve got it covered.
Researchers at Northumbria University have undertaken a project exploring sustainable planning…
In this article originally written for The Conversation*, Matthew T. Johnson, Professor of…
In this article originally written for The Conversation*, Intigam Mamedov, Postdoctoral research…
Two Northumbria University cyber security students have been shortlisted at the globally recognised…
Roisin Currie, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Greggs PLC, has been awarded an honorary degree…
As fans prepare for the 2024 World Snooker Championship to get under way this weekend, a new…
Northumbria University
-
Back to top
