Barbara Nestola
Versailles Centre for Baroque Music (CMBV; France)
The eloquent body: colors, gesture, vocality, and role shaping in early Italian opera
2025–2026: Spring
Barbara Nestola is a musicologist and a theater historian. She has been the director of the research department of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles (CMBV) since 2019. Her research focuses on musical transfers between Italy and France; on the performance practice of 17th century Italian opera; and on the interweaving of theatrical practices in French spoken and musical theater under the Ancien Régime. She is a member of the Francesco Cavalli and 17th Century Venetian Opera study group of the IMS (dir. E. Rosand), which is publishing the operas of Cavalli with Bärenreiter. She co-directed with E. De Luca the project ThéPARis. Les théâtres parisiens sous l’Ancien Régime (2019–2024), bringing together more than thirty researchers in musicology, literature, dance, theater, and art history.
She authored L’air italien sur la scene des théâtres parisiens (1687–1715). Répertoire, pratiques, interprètes (Brepols, 2020) and co-edited The Fashioning of French Opera (1672–1791): Identity, Production, Networks (Brepols, 2023) in collaboration with B. Dratwicki, J. Dubruque, and T. Leconte. With E. De Luca, she directed two special issues of academic journals: Les théâtres parisiens sous l’Ancien Régime. Parcours transversaux, Revue d’Histoire du Théâtre 289/1 (2021) and Théâtres à recette et spectacles non payants (1661–1797) : Créations, circulations, transversalité, Littératures classiques N° 113 (2024).
A specialist in the declamation of sung Italian, she leads vocal masterclasses and takes part in opera productions. She regularly collaborates as a scientific advisor with professional performers in concerts, recitals, opera productions, and audiovisual recordings.
More information: https://cesr.cnrs.fr/membre/nestola-barbara/