Francesca Placanica studied opera and classical vocal repertoires with Laura Sarti, Nelly Miricioiou, Dale Dietert and Richard Wistreich, and opera acting with Italo Nunziata, Maria Luisa Bigai, Marciem Bazell, Hank Hammett; most recently, acting techniques with Pamela Karantonis and Benjamin Spatz at the Centre for Psychophysical Performance Research at Huddersfield University. She won the International Solo Voice Competition Seghizzi (2007) in the Category “George Gershwin” and graduated from musical institutions from Italy, UK, USA. Theatre works include Jenny Diver in The Threepenny Opera, Witch in the world premiere of The History of Rapunzel by Simon Sargon, Ottavia in The Coronation of Poppea with the Meadows Opera Ensemble Dallas, Despina in Cosi fan tutte at Nuffield Theatre Southampton, Qen at Soho Theatre London in the musical Seventh Time Around (2011). She performs extensively as a chamber recitalist soloist in Europe (including Switzerland and the UK), Canada, USA. A PhD holder from University of Southampton (2013) and a twentieth-century vocal performance scholar, she has been producing and performing on smaller-scale musical monodramas since 2012, which she toured across European Universities and concert venues, with the support of higher education partners. Her project was hosted at Maynooth University, where she was project-leader of her IRC funded “En-Gendering Monodrama: Artistic Research and Experimental Production” (2015–17). Her experimental productions (Monodrama I, La Voix humaine, Neither (I nor Not I)), have toured Ireland and Europe. She was awarded an Arts Council Music Commission Grant to have an original song cycle written for her and the Swiss-based Cochlea Duo (flute, harp) by Irish composer Ryan Molloy and Irish poet Martin Dyar, which toured Ireland in 2018 (in absentia). She is currently a Marie Curie Senior Research Fellow at University of Huddersfield and the project-leader of her practice-based project “Networks of Practice in New Music Theatre (NePraMusT).