Doctoral Performance and PhD Defence Anna Bianco
ACPA cordially invites you to the doctoral performance and public defence of the PhD research project Images for the Music by Anna Bianco, presented within the framework of the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA).
The doctoral performance will take place on Tuesday, 2 December 2025, as part of the Study Day in memory of Frans de Ruiter, founder of ACPA and the docARTES programme.
At 17.00 hrs., during the afternoon session of the Study Day at the Lokhorstkerk (Pieterskerkstraat 1, Leiden), Anna Bianco will give a public presentation of her research, featuring selected cantatas discussed in her dissertation.
The public defence will follow on Wednesday, 3 December 2025, at 14.30 hrs. in the Groot Auditorium of the Academy Building, Leiden University, and will be followed by a reception at 15.30 hrs.
About the research
In her dissertation Images for the Music. Drawings and Secular Cantatas, Anna Bianco investigates the visual culture surrounding the secular Italian cantata between the 17th and 18th centuries. Her study reconstructs the networks of artists, patrons, and collectors who treated music manuscripts as unique visual artefacts, exploring how decoration functioned as an autobiographical and aesthetic act.
Through detailed case studies on the Master of the Roman Songbook, Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti, and Filippo Juvarra, as well as on the dispersed collection of Sir John Symmons, the dissertation reveals how image and sound interacted within baroque artistic practices and collecting habits. The project also highlights the role of decorated cantatas as vehicles of cultural memory, artistic exchange, and identity within early modern Europe.
Event schedule
Tuesday, 2 December 2025 – Doctoral Performance
17.00 hrs. – Presentation with cantata performances during the Study Day Frans de Ruiter, Lokhorstkerk, Pieterskerkstraat 1, Leiden
Wednesday, 3 December 2025 – Public Defence
14.30 hrs. – Public defence, Groot Auditorium, Academy Building, Leiden University
15.30 hrs. – Reception
Supervisors
Prof. dr. Dinko Fabris
Em. prof. dr. Ton Koopman
Dr. Anna Scott
Dr. Gert Jan van der Sman
