David Dolata
Professor, Scholar, & Lutenist
The Bulletin de la Société Française de Luth recently referred to FIU School of Music Chair and Associate Professor of Musicology David Dolata as a "gentleman de la Renaissance" for his activities as a scholar and performer. A native of Buffalo, New York, Dr. Dolata earned his Ph.D. in Musicology with a concentration in Performance Practice from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied musicology and performance practice with John Suess and Ross Duffin and lute with Paul O’Dette. His undergraduate and masters degrees in Classical Guitar Performance are from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where he studied under Clare Callahan. He also earned a B.A. in Social Sciences from Niagara University.
Dr. Dolata's critical edition of Italian theorbo virtuoso Bellerofonte Castaldi's “Capricci a due stromenti” appears as Vol. Nos. 142 & 143 in Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, and his work on Castaldi is included in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. His most recent work on Castaldi, “Bellerofonte Castaldi (1580-1649) of Modena: Musician, Poet, and Adventurer,” appears in the Fall 2007 issue of Acta Musiologica, the Journal of the International Musicogical Society. Dr. Dolata's "Visual and Poetic Allegory in Bellerofonte Castaldi's Extraordinary Capricci a due stromenti" is the lead article in the August 2005 issue of Early Music. He has also published several other articles on historical tunings and temperaments on the lute, in addition to book and recording reviews for Notes and Early Music America. Dr. Dolata recently presented papers at the Medieval/Renaissance Conference 2005 in Tours, France and the "Cui dono lepidum novum libellum? Dedicating Latin Works and Motets in the Sixteenth Century: Theory and Practice" conference in Rome, Italy.
As a continuo lutenist David Dolata has appeared at such venues as the Glimmerglass Opera in New York, the Florida Grand Opera in Miami, the Boston Early Music Festival, Spoleto Festival’s Early Music Series, and on recordings for NPR, BBC, CBS Sunday Morning, and Ars Femina. Dr. Dolata's most recent recording was of Kapsberger's 1623 Book of Arias for Toccata Classics as a member of Il Furioso with fellow lutenist Victor Coelho, soprano Janet Youngdahl, and Italian tenor Gian Paolo Fagotto. Other recordings in 2005 and 2006 include Praetorius' “Christmas Vespers” with Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra for Koch International, and Battaglia d'amore: the Music of Bellerofonte Castaldi on Toccata Classics.