Former Jacobs professor receives research award

Giovanni Zanovello has spent years researching the origins of music. Now, he is being rewarded for it as a recipient of the Jacques-Handschin Award presented by the Swiss Musicological Society.

“I thought it was a scam when I read the email that congratulated me,” Zanovello said of his reaction to the news. “I was very confused.”

Zanovello, a former assistant professor at the Jacobs School of Music, now researches music from the Renaissance, Franco-Flemish composers/singers and sixteenth-century France.

The award, which will be given to Zanovello on Nov. 22 in Zurich, is awarded to individuals who have devoted a notable amount of time to music research and are considered superb researchers.

Recipients are recognized for their extraordinary historiographical involvement, as well as in the distribution and publication of music.

The award is given to a young researcher who is nominated by Glarean Award winner Karol Berger, who chose to nominate Zanovello for his work and dedication that has made him stand out as a young researcher.

Peter Burkholder, the chairman of the department of musicology, agreed with Zanovello’s recognition and the legitimacy of the award.

“Winning the Jacques-Handschin Award is an astonishing accomplishment,” Burkholder said.

“It makes clear that Professor Zanovello already is recognized as a rising star in musicology and will likely be one of the leaders of his generation of scholars on music. We are very proud of him.”

This is Zanovello’s first award, although he has received several fellowships, grants and other honors throughout his career and from Princeton University, where he received his Ph.D. in 2005.

The award comes with a prize from the Swiss Musicological Society from donations consisting of a total of 10,000 francs, or roughly $11,000, which Zanovello said he plans to use to pay for housing while he is abroad and for future research.

He is grateful for the prize money, he said, because it allows him to continue his studies while in Florence for several weeks.

He said he hopes to bring a graduate student with him as an assistant.
Zanovello said he plans to conduct research in Europe and has a particular interest in the church Basilica della Santissima Annunziata in Florence.

“I really like to study why people make music,” he said. “Most people look at what kind of music and how, but no one really looks at why music is made.”