Paradise Lost – Morfé Δemoníon

The embrace of the Serpent with the Devil, Eve's dream of the loss of Paradise, Nature's lament for the Bacchic massacre of Pentheus.

John Milton's extreme iconoclastic, borderline blasphemous Renaissance language and Euripides' archetypal Bacchic figures of excess are turned into amorphous sound clouds, chained grooves, sonic confluences and collisions.

A transcendent vocal trio, a voluminous choral mass, a classical harmonium, drones and electronically processed voices set up a sound machine of verbal transformations; a singular oratorio, in which the words' semantics are substituted by their acoustic imprint.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Nikos Galenianos
Master's composition studies at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague, bachelor's composition studies at the Codarts Rotterdam, and law studies at the Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has cooperated with Gaudeamus Muziekweek festival, Residentie Orchestra the Hague, Tectonics festival and Ilan Volkov, Bozzini quartet, Doelen ensemble etc. Amongst else, works of his have been presented at the Little Theatre and Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, Orgelpark Amsterdam, Boijmans contemporary arts museum Rotterdam, Greek National Opera, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, Onassis Stegi, National Theatre of Greece and National Theatre of Northern Greece. His work often engages with ancient or medieval texts and their acoustic qualities as primal material. His master's artistic research examines prelinguistic language and aphasia as concepts for vocal-based composition. He has cooperated with many Greek directors and groups in small- and large-scale productions. He is a member of the contemporary music ensemble TΕΤΤΤΙΞ.

Artemis Bogri
Greek mezzo-soprano, she studied piano and singing (diploma under Marina Κrilovici). She was a member of the GNO Opera Studio (2009-11) and currently continues her studies with Aris Christofellis. She has given concerts with the Athens State Orchestra, Thessaloniki State Symphony Orchestra, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, Armonia Atenea, Ergon Ensemble, Hellenic Group of Contemporary Music. She is a close collaborator of composer George Couroupos, having premiered many of his works (The Stage of Miracles, Voice of Oak, Leporella). At the Greek National Opera she has sung Composer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Dorabella (Così fan tutte), Angelina (La Cenerentola), Stéphano (Roméo et Juliette), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Prince Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus), as well as the title role of Despo (as part of the tribute to the 2021 bicentennial of the Greek Revolution). She took part in the first modern day revival of Gluck's Il trionfo di Clelia (ROH, London). She also participated at Icones, a tribute to the 80th birthday of Peter Maxwell Davies, sang in the Madness cycle (Athens Festival) and premiered Nikos Skalkottas' 16 Songs (Athens Concert Hall). She is a graduate of the Department of Economics of the University of Piraeus.

Danae Bletsa
Lyric soprano and composer. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. As a soprano she has given recitals of Baroque and Classical repertoire and has performed roles such as Celia in Haydn's opera La fedeltà premiata and Pamira in Rossini's The Siege of Corinth (Biennial Baroque Geneva, Salle de la Bourse, Theatre Rotterdam, Vienna Opera Academy, Greek National Opera Alternative Stage), as well as the role of Priestess at the world premiere of Wim Henderickx' opera Mantras, which she directed (Rotterdam Opera Festival, Greek National Opera Alternative Stage). She has composed music for the Ensemble Contrechamps, the Nieuw Ensemble, the Atlas Ensemble, operas for the Neuköllner Oper, Berlin, the Utrechtse Stadsschouwburg and the Composers’ Festival Amsterdam, and music theatre works for the Greek National Opera Alternative Stage (Synthesis), Senate House London, Orgelpark and the 1st Biennale of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki. She has taught seminars at the Geneva Haute école de musique (musicology) and at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.

Ioanna Vrakatseli
Mezzo-soprano, PhD candidate. As a soloist, she has performed 20th- and 21st-century works (Xenakis, Berio, Cage, Mâche, Aperghis etc) at festivals and important venues in Greece (Athens Concert Hall, GNO Alternative Stage, Onassis Stegi, Parnassos Literary Society Concert Hall) and abroad (Alexandria, Egypt). She has given numerous premieres. The range and flexibility of her voice has inspired composers like Juliana Hall, Foteini Tryferopoulou, Maria Deli, Dimitris Terzakis, Spyros Mazis, George Vavoulas, Nickos Harizanos and Giannis Sfyris. Being both a singer and an educator, she always aims at expanding her knowledge on extended vocal techniques, kinesitherapy, and voice therapy and has attended a series of seminars and clinical workshops as well. Since 2021, she has been presenting vocal pedagogy, vocal technique and new educational approaches at conferences.

CHÓRES female choral ensemble
CHÓRES is an artistic incubator created by Marina Satti in order to cultivate its members' skills in music, dance and acting as well as to develop artists with a broad education and social awareness. CHÓRES experiments on the interconnection of diverse aesthetic and cultural elements, transcending the boundaries of geography or age and utilising various means of expression. More than 150 women aged between 15 and 60 regularly practise the whole spectrum of performance arts. Their eclectic repertoire includes traditional Greek songs, songs from the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, original compositions and folksong arrangements by numerous Greek and international composers, several of which were written expressly for the ensemble. CHÓRES regularly collaborates with the Greek National Opera as a resident ensemble, having taken part in many concerts, theatre productions, social and educational activities, and choral festivals in Greece and abroad. CHÓRES participated in the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 Eleusis European Capital of Culture as well as in the Olympic Flame Handover Ceremony of the XXXIII Summer Olympic Games "Paris 2024" at the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens; they have also repeatedly toured selected archaeological sites throughout Greece as part of the Ministry of Culture and Sports' programme "All of Greece, One Culture".