Professor Nicholas Till gives an open lecture in University of Arts Helsinki Sibelius Academy`s and History Forum`s opera seminar: “I have tried to express her feelings, as far as an Italian bravura aria will allow”: Transvaluations of Musical Virtuosity in the Operas of Mozart.

The lecture is free of charge and open to everyone.

Musical performance is work like any other, and its valuation as work has always depended upon broader societal valuations of labour. But musical performance is also ”representation” of work: composers model representations of musical labour, and signify its meanings and value through musical forms that foreground different aspects of performance technique and skill. In this talk Nicholas Till will suggests that Mozart’s deployment of vocal virtuosity in his operas reflects changing valuations of labour in the 18th century brought about by the early industrial revolution.

Professor Nicholas Till is a historian, theorist and practitioner working in opera, music theatre and related cross-disciplinary arts. He is the professor of Opera & Music Theatre (Music, Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre, University of Sussex) and holds the first Chair in Opera and Music Theatre in the UK.