The idea for this piece began with my work on a contemporary reimagining of Cherubini’s opera Medea, in collaboration with director Panos Balomenos, pianist Gaile Griciute, and others, which was presented at the Helsinki Design Museum in August 2011 as part of the Helsinki Night of the Arts. The sound material for Maledetta is built primarily from treatments of selections from the Maria Callas recording of Cherubini’s opera, and from my recording of Gaile Griciute’s performance of the piano reduction, as well as additional sound material which had originally been prepared for the Design Museum performance. Maledetta intends to present a portrait of the title character of Medea, primarily through a portrayal of her psychological state – shifting back and forth between calm and maternal, and vengeful, violent and disturbed. This is most clearly achieved through the processing and treatment of the sound material, but also through the dislocated formal structure: while certain sound materials act as both themes and structural markers, the work proceeds in a series of alternating states, with the sense of formal development regularly frustrated and ruptured, although the work regularly makes reference to the C minor chord of the opening and closing phrases. Maledetta was premiered at the concert Acousmatica I in the Musiikkitalo Black Box concert hall on October 20th, 2011.

Source: 2012