Harris S. Saunders, Jr.

Harris S. Saunders, Jr. is an Associate Professor of Music at the School of Theatre and Music, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He joined UIC in January 1998 after serving at UCLA and has held academic appointments since completing his doctorate.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Music, Harvard University (1985)
  • Master of Arts in Music, Harvard University (1979)
  • Bachelor of Arts in German and Music, Harvard University (1975)

Research Focus: Specializing in the history of opera, particularly Venetian opera from the late seventeenth to early eighteenth centuries, Professor Saunders has produced a critical edition of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Pirro e Demetrio (1694) and is completing a monograph titled The Persistence of Glory: Venetian Opera in the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries. His work also contributes to Baroque opera scholarship, including entries in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Awards & International Engagement: A Fulbright Scholar (1975–1976) in Munich, he has conducted extensive research in Italy since the 1980s. Fluent in French, German, and Italian, he translated Nino Pirrotta’s Don Giovanni Progress: A Rake Goes to the Opera.