Theory
jsaenz@fas.harvard.edu
Juan Patricio Saenz is a doctoral student in music theory at Harvard University. He obtained an MA in music theory from McGill university under the supervision of Edward Klorman. His master’s thesis titled “Instrumentality, Materiality, and the Guitar: Two Case Studies,” explored the different manifestations of the classical guitar as an “instrument of music theory” in seventeenth-century Iberia and twentieth-century Argentina. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in piano performance and orchestral conducting from Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina. He is an active performer of both classical and tango music and sees these experiences as sources of inspiration and intuition for his scholarly work.
His research focuses on the history of music theory in Iberia and Latin America engaged through multi-methodological perspectives including music and migration, material culture, and transnational intellectual exchange. Further interests include epistemologies of music analysis, musical semiotics, and modernism. He has presented his research at numerous regional and international conferences including SMT, SMA, and AMS. He was awarded the Arthur J. Komar award at the 2023 annual meeting of Music Theory Midwest for his paper titled “From Topic to Prime Sonority: The Structural Evolution of the ‘Guitar Chord’ in Alberto Ginastera’s Oeuvre.”