Paolo Russo is graduated in Musicology with a thesis on “Zoroastre” by Rameau and received a Ph.D. in Musicologia e Beni Musicali from the University of Bologna with a thesis on Mayr’s “Medea in Corinto”. After teaching Didactics of the history of music in the Conservatories, since 2001 he has been a researcher at the University of Parma where he is now “Associate” professor with the qualification as Full professor. In Parma University he teaches "Musical Dramaturgy", "Poetry for music: stories and styles", "Musical languages of contemporaneity". He is a member of the teaching staff for the Ph.D. in “Scienze filologico-letterarie, storico-filosofiche e artistiche”. His good knowledge of software and computing has been useful in creating for the University of Parma an online multimedia course in Musical Dramaturgy (2016).
In recent years he has worked extensively on music and opera in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries: he was scientific director of the international conference "I due mondi di Duni" (Parma, Casa della Musica, 27-28 April 2013) and the international conference "Ferdinando Paer tra Parma Parma e l’Europe" (Parma, Casa della musica, September 28-30, 2006). He has studied documents of the Parma State Archives for his research on the history of court music in the Duchies of Parma.
His research focuses mainly on the Eighteenth-century French opera, on Italian opera of the early Nineteenth century, on operatic dramaturgy at the intersection with other dramatic, choreutical, tragic genres and on teaching methods of the history of music (he had published, in collaboration with Paolo Fabbri and Alessandro Roccatagliati, “Musica e società. Dal 1640 al 1830”, Milan, McGraw-Hill, 2013). He also studied Renaissance music, Seventeenth and Eighteenth-century sacred music, instrumental music of the French Nineteenth century, music in silent films (About this last topic cfr. his “Echoes of Opera in the ‘quadri stupendi di una evidenza portentosa’ of ‘Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei’ (1908-1913)”, in “Film Music, Practices, Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives. Studies around ‘Cabiria’ Research Project”, edited by Annarita Colturato, Torino, Kaplan, 2014, pp. 111-133).
All these research project have been carried out in collaboration with national and international research institutions: University of Tours; University of Rouen; Università Cattolica di Milano; Università di Milano; The University of Nottingham; Università di Torino – Progetto Cabiria; Pontificio Istituto di musica sacra; Centro studi Divino Sospiro di Lisbona; Società internazionale di Musicologia; International Society «Gestalt Theory and its Applications»; Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini di Lucca; Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française di Venezia; Casa della musica di Parma; Istituto di Bibliografia musicale calabrese; Istituto Storico Germanico di Roma; Fondazione Donizetti di Bergamo, Teatro di Wilbad; Teatro Comunale di Piacenza; Banca Monte di Parma; Edizioni Ricordi – München; Editrice Treccani.
For Carocci (Roma) he published “H. Berlioz, ‘Sinfonia Fantastica’. Un guida” (2008), for Olschki (Florence) “'Medea in Corinto' di Felice Romani. Storia, fonti, tradizioni” (2004). For the LIM (Lucca) he published “La parola e il gesto. Studi sull’opera francese nel Settecento” (1997); for Mursia a guide on the “Passions” of J. S. Bach (1995, 2012). He has been scientific editor for “I due mondi di Duni. Il teatro musicale di un compositore illuminista tra Italia e Francia” (Lucca, LIM, 2014) and “Ferdinando Paër tra Parma e l'Europa” (Venezia, Marsilio 2008), “Musica e drammaturgia a Roma al tempo di Carissimi” (Venezia, Marsilio, 2006), “La scelta della misura. Gabriello Chiabrera: l’altro fuoco del barocco italiano” (Genova, Costa & Nolan, 1994, con F. Bianchi), “La cappella musicale nell’età della controriforma” (Firenze, Olschki, 1993, with O. Mischiati). He also translated in italian two volumes by John Rosselli published by Il Mulino di Bologna.
He has numerous publications in Italian and foreign reviews: «Culture Teatrali», «Polifonie», «Musica e Storia», «Revue de Musicologie», «Recercare», «Cambridge Opera Journal», «Revista de Musicologìa», «Il Saggiatore musicale», «Studi Musicali», «Bequadro», «Nuova Rivista Musicale Italiana», «Studi Verdiani», «Musica/Realtà», «Paideia», «Gestalt Theory», «Itinera».
He is in the board of «Studi verdiani», «Il Saggiatore musicale» and was in the board for «Musica e Storia» published from 1993 to 2009 by Il Mulino and the Fondazione Levi; he collaborated with the music dictionary “Musik Geschichte in Gegenwart”, published by Bärenreiter in Kassel and with the “Dizionario Biografico degli italiani” (Treccani).
