“With a lot of great musicians, whether it’s in pop or classical music, finding the voice is really the key.”

Kurt Sven Markstrom is an Associate Professor in Music History and Musicology. He completed a Ph.D. and Post-doctorate at the University of Toronto under Carl Morey, specializing in 18th century Italian Opera.

He has contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and new edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His book on The Operas of Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano was published in 2006 by Pendragon Press, with a second book, on the life and works of Vinci’s colleague and rival, Nicola Porpora, in progress. As part of his studies of Vinci and Porpora, he has prepared performance editions of Vinci’s opera Eraclea, which received its modern première at the Festival dell’ Aurora in Crotone, Italy in May of 2005 and a complete Vespers Service by Porpora for female voices and orchestra, which received its modern première in 2007 in the Canzona concert series in Winnipeg and will be performed and recorded by Martin Gester and the Parliament de musique at the Festival Ambronay in France (September 2011).

He has also prepared a new edition of the first Canadian opera, Joseph Quesnel’s Colas et Colinette, which received its première in 2007 in Winnipeg by Musical Offering. Kurt is currently writing a book on the composer/playwright.

Ph.D. and Post-Doctorate (University of Toronto)

• Leonardo Vinci, Napoletano, Opera Series No. 2 (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2007)
• “The Vinci/Vivaldi Interconnections, 1724-26 and Beyond” in: Motezuma Redivivus, ed Michael Talbot (Turnhout, Brepols, 2008):103-146
• “Una stagione disastrosa per Vinci a Roma: Catone in Utica al teatro delle Dame” In Leonardo Vinci e il suo tempo: atti dei Convengi internazionali di studi, Conservatorio di Musica Francesco Cilea, Reggio Calabria, June 10-12, 2002 & June 4-5, 2004 (Reggio Calabria: Iriti editore, 2005)
• Articles in the new edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan, 2001): “Vinci, Leonardo” & “Porpora, Nicola Antonio”
• Performance edition of Nicola Porpora’s Vespers (1744): version for women’s choir and mixed choir; given its modern première by the Canzona and MusikBarock under the direction of Henry Engbrecht in Winnipeg, November 4, 2007
• A New Realization/Edition of the first Canadian opera, Joseph Quesnel’s Colas et Colinette: given its first performance by Musical Offering, directed by Sylvia Scott Wortley in Winnipeg, April 21 & 22, 2007
• Performance edition of Leonardo Vinci’s opera Eraclea: given its first performance since its premiere in 1724 at the Festival dell’Aurora in Crotone Italy, May 27, 2005

• “Vinci, Pergolesi e la critica musicale del tardo Settecento” 300 Anni Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: “Sopra il gusto moderno” civiltà musicale a Napoli nell’età di Pergolesi, Napoli, 28-31 January, 2010
• “The “Idea of the North” in Swedish and Canadian Music of the Twentieth Century,” Program for Northern Studies Partnership Conference: Umeå University – University of Manitoba, Umeå, Sweden, 16-19 February, 2009
• “Venezia 1744-45: I due servizi per i Vespero nella versione di Porpora,” Nicola Porpora Musicista Europeo: le canti, i teatri, i cantanti, i librettisti: Convegno Internazionale di Studi, Conservatorio di Musica Francesco Cilea, Reggio Calabria, October, 3-4, 2008
• “La Premier Opéra Canadien: A New Realization/Edition of Joseph Quesnel’s Colas et Colinette” [substantially revised version of the previous] Canadian University Music Society, Annual Meeting, University of British Columbia, June, 6-8, 2008
• “Vinci’s “Polish” Opera for a Runaway Polish Princess” 12th Biennial International Conference on Baroque Music, Warsaw, July 26-30, 2006
• “Leonardo Vinci: Origini oscure e fine misteriosa” Giornata di Studi: Leonardo Vinci e gli Intermezzi Comici Napoletani, Strongoli/Crotone, in conjunction with the Festival Aurora, May 29, 2003
• “References to the War of Spanish Succession in the Opera Libretti of Handel” 10th Biennial Conference on Baroque Music, Universidad de la Rioja, July 17-21, 2002
• “Una stagione calamitosa per Leonardo Vinci a Roma: il Catone in Utica al Teatro delle Dame” Leonardo Vinci: architetture sonore nella Napoli del viceregno austriaco: convegno internazionale di studi, Conservatorio di Musica Francesco Cilea, Reggio Calabria, June 10-12 June 2002
• “Music Criticism in Italy during the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: ossia Too Many Ornaments, Too Many Instruments, and Too Many Notes” American Musicological Society, Chapter Meeting, St. Louis, March 22-23, 2003
• “Caesura and Cadence: Vinci’s ‘Mechanical Rules of Melody’” 9th Biennial Conference on Baroque Music, School of Music at Trinity College, Dublin, July 12 to July 16, 2000; & American Musicological Society, Chapter Meeting, Kansas City, March 24-25, 2001

• Senior Fellow, St. John's College
• Committees:

Library Committee
Scholarship and Awards Committee