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Darren Kusar received his PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Chicago in 2024. His dissertation, "Text, Voice, Image: Staging Diabolical Early Modern Italian Musical Theater," investigates how belief embeds physical experience and penetrates the rational mind, distorting senses of reality. His analysis focuses on the interplay of spectacle, particularly within the sonic domain of the demonic Italian Counter-Reformation. Kusar examines the intricate interplay of textual, sonic, and visual representations of the diabolical, scrutinizing depictions of sound-based spectacle through the prism of Renaissance demonological understandings of audition. His research interests include early modern poetry, opera, voice studies, Renaissance demonology, phenomenology, and wonder tales. Additionally, Darren is a classically trained tenor who performs in solo and ensemble settings in the Chicago area.
Department of Philosophy