Mordenti and acciaccature in keyboard basso continuo: sources and performance practice | Concert & Public Defense PhD María Gonzalez

How did basso continuo sound in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italy? This research explores suonar pieno, a rich style of playing in which expressive dissonances - mordenti and acciaccature - played a distinctive role. Drawing on historical sources, María Gonzalez examines their forms, functions and performance practice. The concert brings these findings to life through Italian vocal and instrumental music by Cesti, Corelli, Albinoni, and Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, among others. Two works by Cesti and Caprioli receive their first modern performances, reconstructed especially for the occasion from historical manuscripts.

Supervisors: Kristin Van den Buys & Mattias Lundberg

Maria González studied at ESMUC with Béatrice Martin and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Jesper Christensen. She has collaborated with leading musicians and ensembles across Europe and beyond, such as Sergio Azzolini, Masaaki Suzuki, James Gaffigan, Il Gardellino, Camerata Bern, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, and Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne. Co-founder of Ensemble Daimonion, she won the Premio Bonporti in 2011. González has worked as a répétiteur at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and has taught at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Sevilla and the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel, where she has taught basso continuo since 2017.