Mariella Cassar-Cordina

Maltese Mariella Cassar-Cordina is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music, and educator. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Music Education and a Post Graduate Diploma in Administration and Management from the University of Malta. In 2005, she was awarded the M. Phil (Music) from the Mediterranean Institute at the University of Malta. Having been a regular student of Maltese composer Charles Camilleri, she decided to further her studies at Falmouth University incorporating Dartington College of Arts, UK, where she obtained a doctorate degree in Music Composition under the tutorship of Christopher Best, Trevor Wiggins and David Prior.

Her works vary from solo and chamber to full orchestral works. She has collaborated with various musicians, including Maltese pianist and conductor Alexei Galea Cavallazzi, Maltese pianist Tricia Dawn Williams, Italian pianist Nazareno Ferruggio, and the Fisarchi Ensemble (Florence, Italy). In 2011, two of her works were performed in a self-organised concert at Teatru Manoel in Malta. The concert, Crossing Lines, was performed by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maltese conductor Brian Schembri. In the same year, Cassar-Cordina collaborated with Maltese visual artist Ruth Bianco, in Daria’s Vision, a conceptual détournement that plays upon the regurgitation of history and events, images and media. In 2013, she started a long-term collaboration with Maltese visual artist Victor Agius, and Maltese writer Immanuel Mifsud, on the Ġgantija Art Project, which culminated in an exhibition and performance of Ġgantija II at St James Cavalier as part of the second phase of this project. Since 2015, Mariella Cassar-Cordina has been Associate Executive Project Coordinator of the interdisciplinary project Jardin D’Enfanta Enchantés (Garden of Enchanted Children), which incorporates dance, music, visual art, and theatre. The project entails a multimedia performance installation, conceived by American composer and conductor Joel Thome, in partnership with Orchestra of Our Time Inc. In 2019, Cassar-Cordina’s work Waiting for string orchestra was recorded by PARMA Recordings as part of a recording project of works by Maltese composers, performed by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2020, her collaboration with Austrian artist Nicola Ginzel commenced via a six-week online residency, with a physical exhibition at Austrian Cultural Forum (NYC). This project 10001, organised by the New York City-based artistic platform Undercurrent, was a virtual project that focused on the collaboration of strangers and the narrative of their collective creative process using New York City as the linchpin. The project was supported by EU National Institutions for Culture based in NYC and was financially supported by Malta Arts Council through the International Cultural Exchanges Scheme.

Dr Cassar-Cordina has been a jury member in a number of international festivals, including the 2011 Malta International Choir Festival. She is also an Education Officer for Music in Malta, and lecturer at the School of Performing Arts and Faculty of Education at the University of Malta. She is the founder of the Malta Association of Music Educators (MAME) and co-founder of Ars Vitae Ensemble and ARTIMUZI.