Biography

As a harpsichordist and editor of Italian baroque music, I work within the context of historically based music performance - i.e. performed on instruments of the period in which it was composed, and based on research into musical thinking of the period.

Since coming to the University of Newcastle in 1999, I have supervised 6 completed Ph.D.s and many Masters (M.C.A, M.A. and M.Phil.) in a wide range of topics including pedagogy, baroque performance practice and research with a creative component. I am also frequently consulted as Ph.D. and Masters examiner for major Australian universities.

Central to my work is the concept of performance research which involves performance as a central testing ground for theories about music creativity of past and present.

The principal outputs of my research are in the form of:

• performances and recordings (e.g. CDs released by ABC Classics, live broadcasts, concert with postgraduate students)
• publishing first modern editions of music, based on primary source research, expanding the repertoire available to performers and scholars - both online and hardcopy editions
• analytical and historical papers on Italian baroque cantata and serenata: its significance, performance issues, and source studies.

The Italian baroque cantata and serenata repertoire is comparatively unknown even to performers and scholars specialist in baroque opera and oratorio. My work addresses this significant gap in current knowledge by documenting the genre through source study, scholarly editions, and performances/recordings. The growing number of performers worldwide who contact me for editions and information about Scarlatti's music indicates that this work provides a valuable source for performers, researchers, and audiences.

My major creative work is the 3-CD set of recordings of Cantatas and Serenatas by Alessandro Scarlatti for ABC Classics, recorded partly at the University of Newcastle. The set covers a wide chronological selection from A. Scarlatti's output (ca. 1690-1720) and provides extensive documentation of the research into performance conducted within this project. This has led me to explore other means of reaching performers and researchers in the field of 17th century music, such as online publishing and audio streaming.

Editing: I have edited two major volumes of previously unpublished works by A.Scarlatti by A-R Editions, the leading scholarly publisher in the USA of music research. The Web Library of Seventeenth Century Music (WLSCM), a U.S. based peer-reviewed online edition, has published editions of individual works. I have been invited to contribute to conferences in italy in 2007-10, with publications resulting from these papers, and increased opportunities to collaborate with leading international researchers in my field.

Performance: as a solo harpsichordist I have recorded two CDs of French harpsichord music ('The French Harpsichord', ABC Classics, winning the Soundscapes award in the Australian instrumental category, 1997), and performed widely in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. I have performed and broadcast in leading Australian festivals including Barossa, Huntingdon, Melbourne Autumn Festival with ensembles including Elysium, His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, SSO, Sydney Philharmonia, and Chacona founded by myself in 1997, and Affetto (NZ).

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Oxford - UK
• Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Otago - New Zealand

Research

Research keywords

• Alessandro Scarlatti
• Imagery in the Italian Baroque Cantata
• Performance as Research

Research expertise

My field of research is in the combined area of baroque performance and historical source study. I am a researcher/performer who has recorded solo harpsichord CDs, as well as directing newly edited works from the Italian Baroque repertoire, especially the music of Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725). Scarlatti's cantatas are said to be little known, thus the research undertaken by me contributes to primary knowledge of this repertoire area. I am widely experienced with source materials of the 17th-18th centuries, including autograph material of Scarlatti and his predecessor Alessandro Stradella. As a solo harpsichordist I have recorded works of the French baroque, from the 17th- first half of the 18th centuries.

Collaboration

Over 3 decades of transcribing and performing previously unedited works from the Italian baroque cantata repertoire, my work has involved collaboration with singers, literary scholars, fellow editors, performer-researchers, recording producers and ultimately with audiences. Such collaborative activity mirrors the intensely social origins of the genre, built on the interaction of composer, singer, poet, copyist, player, and patron. Some of our leading graduates of Newcastle Conservatorium, including soprano Miriam Allan and cellist Jamie Hey (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra), have played a key role in performing and recording within this project.

The CD set released in 2007 as ‘Venere, Adone, e Amore’ was recorded over a period of four years from 1999-2002, and involved the formation of the period instrument ensemble Chacona in collaboration with five outstanding Australian solo singers (four sopranos and one countertenor). The equal role of singers and instrumentalists is one of the characteristic qualities of this repertoire. Another significant difference from many other discs of newly edited cantatas of the Italian baroque was involving a range of solo singers (rather than producing single-singer discs). This enabled us to create a team of performers who became experienced and knowledgeable in the complex style of Alessandro Scarlatti.

My paper ‘Explorations around Bass Parts and Key Schemes: Recording the Cantatas of Alessandro Scarlatti’ published in 2011, Performers’ Voices across Centuries and Cultures (ed. Anne Marshman, Imperial College Press) documents aspects of this collaborative process.

My most recent collaboration is an editing project with Dr. Marie-Louise Catsalis, Ph.D graduate of Newcastle University, and currently based at Stanford University, CA, Our jointly authored publication, 'Solo Serenatas of Alessandro Scarlatti’, was published in 2011 by A-R Editions, in the series ‘Recent Researches in Music of the Baroque Era’ (Middleton, Wisconsin). The volume contains the first editions in modern times of ten substantial works in the solo Serenata genre, based on texts concerned with night themes. The work has involved performances with students at the University of Newcastle and at Stanford and Santa Clara Universities, CA.

In Italian baroque music I have published over 30 editions of cantatas (secular works from 7 to 20 minutes duration) in a variety of outlets - Saraband Music, Kings Music (U.K.), , WLSCM (U.S.) and two volumes for A-R Editions (U.S.) My interests as a performer-researcher are in the field of imagery and its expression by the musical language of Italian baroque performers, involving analysis of the evolution of the concept of key.

In recent years my research interests have broadened to include papers at international conferences such as 'Performa' (Aveiro, Portugal, 2007) 'Performer's Voice (Singapore 2009), specifically aimed at explaining issues of performance not just in historical context, but from the point of view of today's performer and what the activities of decision-making in performance entail. My paper to the 2011 New Zealand Musicology Society conference, 'Performance, Creativity, Collaboration' included the first modern performances of cantatas by two cellist-composers Lulier and Colombani with NZ. soprano Rowena Simpson and cellist Polly Sussex, illustrating the role of collaborative performance in researching this repertoire.

Languages

• French
• German
• Italian

Fields of Research

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - International Musicological Society (IMS)
• Member - Musicological Society of Australia (MSA)
• Member - Society for Seventeenth-Century Music

Editorial Board.

• Member - Musicology Australia (MA)
• Member - Journal of Music Research Online (JMRO)
• Member - Istituto Italiano per la Storia della Musica (Italian Institute for the History of Music)

Awards

Other

Administrative

Administrative expertise

Currently Convenor of B. Music Honours program and Music Research Convenor (RHD) since 2006. Member of Research Committee for School of DFAM. Co-ordinator of Music elective, 'Performing Baroque Music', offered at 1st year and 3rd year levels. Previous position Senior Lecturer in Performance at U.N.E. (1986-1999) involved co-ordination of all performance programs to M.Mus.(Hons.) and regular service as Acting Head of Department.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Baroque and classical performance practice
• Harpsichord and fortepiano
• Performance research

Teaching expertise

Teaching performance of baroque music to students across a wide range of instruments including voice, from 1st year to Ph.D. level.

Harpsichord teaching, and continuo playing; coaching singers in music of the 17th-18th centuries; teaching editing from historical sources; history of performance practice and reception history. Music of the 17th-19th centuries (History and analysis). I have supervised numerous Ph.D., Masters and Honours candidates in a wide range of subjects with a creative/performance element, from baroque music to original composition work. E. Harpsichord tuition at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and examination of Ph.D. and Masters theses, mainly in areas of baroque performance and source studies for universities throughout Australia.