I am currently a Serra Húnter lecturer in the Department of Art and Musicology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), with three six-year research productivity periods (AQU). My research has focused on 18th-century Hispanic music, particularly tonadillas, the reception of Italian opera, and the relationship between dance and music, analyzing dramaturgical, semiotic, and corporeal aspects, including my own experience as a lyric singer.
A significant part of my research has revolved around the tonadilla by composers such as Jacinto Valledor, Luis Misón, and Pablo Esteve. My investigations have helped dismantle many of the stereotypes surrounding this genre and to reinterpret it in a more updated way, covering everything from the critical edition of works (published in two volumes of the Monumentos de la Música Española series) to the study of its dramaturgical-musical framework, its cultivation in Barcelona (including the use of Catalan), and the stereotypical representation of national and gender identities. The results of this research have not only been reflected in numerous publications (two books with Arpegio Publishing and articles in journals such as Bulletin of Spanish Studies, Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez, Revista de Musicología, Scripta, among others), but also in several lecture recitals where I have performed as a singer. Examples include the productions La Madrid di Goya nella musica lirica spagnola (Bologna, 2015) and De majas y tonadilleras: un diálogo entre Misón y Granados (Barcelona, 2016–2017), where I integrated dance and castanets. My critical editions of tonadillas have been utilized as pedagogical resources for the scenic training of singers at institutions such as the Professional Conservatories of Tarragona and the Liceu. Additionally, I have collaborated as a musicological advisor with the group Música Trobada (in the production Un valencianet a Madrid, 2019) and with the Ensemble Fononèsia, where I also performed in Dones a escena: les “tonadilleras” (March 2020).
My research has increasingly converged on the study of the body in 18th-century music, which I have approached from two perspectives. On the one hand, I have studied the singing body, examining how the singer's body generates meanings on stage and analyzing its traces in the surviving works. My work has focused on the study of Spanish actor-singers of the 18th century, earning the 2nd Prize Otto Mayer-Serra from the University of California, Riverside (2018) for the article “El cuerpo cantante en las tonadillas a solo para Miguel Garrido”, and resulting in publications in Acta Musicologica, Acotaciones, Diagonal, Mouton De Gruyter, and Hollitzer Verlag. On the other hand, I have investigated the body in relation to the configuration of national identities, particularly the possibility of a Spanish body in late 18th-century works by composers such as Boccherini and Martín y Soler. This line of research has resulted in publications in The Journal of Musicology, conference presentations, and forthcoming articles in Danza e Ricerca, Brepols, the Spanish Musicological Society, and The Cambridge Companion to Boccherini (chapter titled “Spanish Dance and Song”).
Much of this research has been carried out with the support of various competitive grants: the FI Research Training Grant from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2002–2005), a short-term mobility grant from the German government to conduct research at the University of Saarland (DAAD, 2011), a postdoctoral mobility grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education at the Department of Arts, University of Bologna (2011–2013), an assegno di ricerca from the Italian government to work at the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the same university (2013–2015), and the Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación grant at the Department of Art and Musicology of the UAB (2015–2017). The semiotic and interdisciplinary approach of this research has allowed me to join groups such as Music and Signification at the University of Helsinki, Athena Musica at the University of Bologna, and MOVACT at the Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (France). In collaboration with Professor Laura Sanz, I served as principal investigator for the project Musicology and Musical Practice in Spain: Dialogues for Disciplinary Integration at the Alfonso X University, funded by Banco Santander (2021–2022). This project will culminate in the publication of a book with Editorial Comares.
As a higher education teacher, I have taught at the Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu and at the Universities of La Rioja, Alfonso X el Sabio, and the International University of Valencia. In all these institutions, I have been actively involved in supervising undergraduate and, above all, master’s final projects. I am currently supervising six doctoral dissertations at the UAB.
less