Professor Dr. Pierpaolo Polzonetti

Biography

Pierpaolo Polzonetti is a musicologist specializing in the intersections of music and food, opera, eighteenth-century instrumental music, jazz, and Cuban popular music. He is the author of 'Feasting, Fasting, and Opera: Renaissance Banquets and the Callas Diet' published by the University of Chicago Press in 2021, which delves into the rituals of eating and drinking in opera through historical analysis. His earlier work, 'Italian Opera in the Age of the American Revolution' won the Lockwood Book Award and examines the representation of America in operas composed in Europe during this period. Polzonetti also co-edited the 'Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Opera', contributing to the field of music studies with scholarly examination and insights. His recent research includes investigations into Cuban music, notably the intersection of gastronomy and popular music, with works supported by various institutions such as the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Research Interests