Dr. Mary Ann Smart

Biography

Mary Ann Smart is an Associate Professor in the Music Department at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of "Mimomania: Music, Gesture, Nineteenth-Century Opera," published in 2004, which explores the relationship between music and physical gesture in the context of 19th-century opera. Smart's work particularly examines how composers like Wagner, Verdi, and Bellini convey emotional states and dramatic action through musical gestures, pushing the boundaries of how opera is perceived and experienced. She has contributed to the field with critical analyses, intertwining feminist critique and insights from film studies within her research. Smart also coedited "Reading Critics Reading: Opera and Ballet Criticism in France 1848" (2001) and edited "Siren Songs: Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Opera" (2000), furthering her exploration of gender representation in musical narratives. Her forthcoming research aims to delve deeper into the complexities of musical mimicry and bodily gesture in performing arts.

Research Interests