Works

The piece is inspired by falling stars – meteorites on the night sky. As seen from the earth, their short life is initially perceived as an illuminated line, which disappears in space.

In reality, they are debris from a comet or asteroid, which disintegrate as they enter the atmosphere. I combined both perspectives and pictured the night sky as a dome of stillness full of tiny scattered stars, colors, shapes of lights, and nebulae where flashes of lines are passing through.

The idea was initially stimulated from the accordion’s wide range of sound qualities, colors and dynamics – later distributed to all instruments and sections; from thick chords and an imposing low register to lively melodic lines and a delicate high whistling.
The piece is organized in three sections: meteorites (birth and death of chords), journey in space (playfulness in fast dialogue) and entering the atmosphere where high register pitch sets in the accordion or clarinet interact with sets of cello harmonics to create layers of constantly overlapping harmonies…until they eventually disappear.

Par Ciel (by sky), a wordplay on partiels (partials), is inspired by the rain. Structured on multiple temporal groupings of pitches as well as on combinations of different registers of harmonics derived from the pitches of the three motifs utilised, the music reflects various sounds of drops initially resembling accidentally occurring tones. They conspire, combine with each other and accumulate to create snapshots and fragments of rainfall that is gradually transformed into blocks of moving, overlapping and palindromic harmonic progressions.

The piece highlights the breakdown of the orchestra’s aggregate sound and color into thin instrumental combinations set against thick(er) harmonic blocks. I perceived drops of rain as particles of a larger water mass and I compared them to partials of sound. They emerge and vanish as entities, which create their own structure, duration, density of texture, intensity, register and patterned formations.

Poem by Victor Hugo, written 1834 – appears in the Les Chants du Crépuscule, no. 27b.

I perceived this poem as a journey from life to death and from there to eternity, where roses symbolise death and papillons represent life. My intention was to reflect the text’s vivid descriptions based on words and sentences I considered to be of primary importance, evoking colourful images (Aux champs, que ton calice verse. Son trésor!), as opposed to the mysteries of eternity, which joins two people forever (la tombe nous reassemble – on peut choisir au hasard, ou la terre Ou le ciel!).

In particular, my approach was based on contrasts between an impressionistic aura of harmonies and vocal writing, and blocks of clusters whose tones are rearranged and distributed throughout different registers, forming each time a repetitive three-chord progression at the role of a leitmotif that symbolises death.

The formation of concentric circles on the surface of the water is one of nature’s mechanisms that stimulate my musical interests – pattern and repetition. The circles’ symmetrical formations and densities in relation to their distance from the center (more dense around the center and sparse as they move away from it), inspired me to structure the piece in two dimensions, the macro and the micro:

1 – a slow metamorphosis from a densely structured dialogue among instruments interrupted by full chords, to a more widely spaced texture interrupted by chords of fewer tones and periods of silence.

2 – rhythmic figures based on symmetrical modes follow a palindromic formation of fast –slower – slow – faster – fast etc. as these figures travel from one instrument to another imitating the flow of water and the continuity of circular formations.

Commissioned by the soundSCAPE festival.

“The path that shines” was inspired by the journey of the snail and the trace that is formed by the slime it leaves behind. The path encounters the light of day and through its shine it becomes visible. Organized in three sections, the first utilizes a motif structured on wide intervals, which gradually transform and decrease. The process imitates the snail’s body movement, which is visually clear at a close distance and becomes less evident as it slides away. Inspired also by its shape where head and tail are almost identical, a palindrome formation of harmonies and temporal units imitate the repetitive movement of its body.

At an overall slow tempo, an incremental transformation of the primary motivic material is set against repetitive harmonic and melodic figures as well as constantly reoccurring musical ideas. In other words, a co – existence between forward – moving and static time gradually becomes evident.

Orchestrated in a rather jazzy instrumentation, Rencontres departs from such an ambience and explores common musical material in terms of melodic and rhythmic motifs, intervallic relationships as well as playing techniques. At times, the saxophone is used percussively in increments of the primary motif, the vibraphone journeys upon variations of previously stated lyrical lines, the double bass abruptly appears in fast and short arco fragments interrupting its pizzicati as well as the brilliance and the metallic timbre of the soprano saxophone, vibraphone and crotales. The constant dialogue among their different personalities and the exchange of material reflect a quest for common musical elements as they travel together through the four sections.

Based on the poem of Thomas Hardy.

Based on the poem of Thomas Hardy.

Text by Audrey Ardern – Jones, OBE

As a part of a collaborative project among historian of gender Dr. Alana Harris, visual artist Stephanie Bickford – Smith and myself, Sacretum was inspired by the different temporalities of four women’s menstruation cycles. Variations and contrasts between fixed cycles (use of contraception pill) and free cycles are demonstrated with clearly defined tonalities and rhythmic motifs (fixed), as opposed to sections of a quasi – tonal or atonal character with an obscured pulse (free), which suggest liberation from temporally controlled bodily functions. Short fragments, which act as links between different tonalities, harmonies, and rhythmic structures connect all four sections. Working with a text that was inspired by these contrasts and subsequently adjusted to the music, the primary challenge was to musically interpret data such as days of ovulation, sexual intercourse and daily temperatures within a melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and thematic continuum which integrates the lives of four women as these are either regulated or liberated by social norms and taboos on menstruation, reproduction and/or contraception.

Idées fixes first began as an attempt to create a complex and a long development of motivic material. Since the time required for completing the piece was limited, I restructured the piece on three primary pillars: Effort, interruption, retry. Similar musical ideas in terms of register, intervallic structuring and rhythmic gestures flow constantly and freely among instruments until they are interrupted either by short solo and duet sections or passages of a more percussive character. Then the dialogues start again giving the impression of a never – ending effort to evolve and expand.

The music attempts to reflect the vivid theatricality demonstrated in the text of Ted Hughes. I perceive this poem as the struggle between Angels (horses) and forces of evil. The primary motivic figure in the vocal line on which further variations are based, articulates an Arabic ambience which connotes the mystery, eroticism and charm of wild Arabic horses, expressed here with an intervallic structure of minor seconds, minor and major thirds. Through a lyrical vocal writing, the constant transposition of these intervals results in a continuously changing tonality, which symbolizes restlessness and struggle, set against the piano’s rhythmic variations which imitate the horse’s running pace.

Based on the poem of Anne Carson entitled ‘Despite Her Pain Another Day’.

Composed for and recorded by Oskar McCarthy, King’s College London Chapel, 2016, London, UK.

Inspired by the mechanisms of the hourglass, this duet identifies each instrument with each chamber of the hourglass. The dialogue in the first two sections between violin and horn refers to all tones of the mode utilised by the horn; they are gradually reduced to represent granules that empty from the upper chamber. Accordingly, the violin part demonstrates an accumulation of tones used from the horn’s mirror mode, a process which mimics the filling of the lower chamber.

Through lyricism and playfulness the first two sections reflect a child’s exploration and experimentation with the hourglass, while the last section reveals its function and purpose. Here, the violin’s melodic line resembles theme and variations, symbolising change and evolution. The horn imitates the ticking of the clock, with staccato crotchets.

The music connects short contrasted and fragmentary passages of symmetrically structured tonalities whose continuous permutations create a global sound that resembles a diversely designed mosaic highlighting areas of different colors, shapes, harmonies, dynamics and tempi. The ensemble is utilized more as an orchestra concealing the dialogue among individual voices. Broken down in short fragments placed one after another a division between sustained harmonies and passages of a dominant percussive character is evident throughout while the overall style departs from conventional instrumental writing, which could otherwise be more characteristic for these instruments, treated individually or as an ensemble.

Antithèse II

Through the narration of an unpredictable musical development between two contrasted sections, this piece focuses on the gradual transformation from thin and delicate textures which represent floating within the serenity of a galactic ambience to thick superimposed harmonies demonstrating earth’s increased gravity levels, musically represented as chord progressions or short phrases of mirrored melodic lines compulsively returning to the same pitch. Through constantly applying exact and broken mirroring Antithèse II describes a transition from introspection and calmness to obsession and anger and symbolizes the contrast between a journey of freedom close to God and a material life on earth.

The piece was inspired by the strong winds, which were constantly present during my stay on a remote Greek island between 2011 and 2015. The structure is based on combinations of three segments of the violin’s range, with different playing techniques and modes. The primary elements which reoccur throughout are a dance motif reflecting the tree’s movement as it follows the direction of the wind, sections with pizzicati, con legno and staccato imitating the sound of its branches as they collide against each other and passages of a static character demonstrated as repeated arpeggios. I perceived the violin itself as a tree, which floats among dance, striking against itself, and stillness.

Work in progress.

Directed by Elisavet Laskari. Andros, Greece.

Eight performances by Independent ensemble, conducted by Ion Marmarinos, at The Municipal Theatre of Andros, 2014, Andros, Greece. (Theatrical Premiere)

Nominated for best original score at two Greek national theatre festivals: National Festival of Ierapetra, Crete and National Festival of Zografou, Athens, 2013.

Directed by Elisavet Laskari. Andros, Freece, 2013.

Performed at The Municipal Theatre of Andros, 2013, Andros, Greece. (Theatrical Premiere)

Based on the text by Laurie Anderson. Improvised and performed by Ion Marmarinos at the Black Box Theatre, 2007, New York, USA. (Theatrical and Dance Premiere)

Recorded by New York University Film Music Ensemble, conducted by Ion Marmarinos, 2005, New York, USA.

Recorded by New York University Film Music Ensemble, conducted by Ion Marmarinos, 2005, New York, USA.

1) Hologramorfes
2) Romi Eso
3) Opium
4) NymphoMenos
5) Istos
6) Katapeltou Gar
7) AnaKrousis

Performed by Ion Marmarinos at Dance Space Center, 2002, New York, USA. (Dance Premiere)

Work in progress.