National Gallery

As a project at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Lïana wrote a piece of music inspired by one of the paintings in room 32 at the National Gallery as part of their Friday Lates project. Along with other students who participated, the goal was to choose a painting and compose a short piece inspired by the painting. 

The composition was then performed at the National Gallery by a string quartet on the 28th of February 2025. 

My piece, entitled “Medusa’s Voice”, was inspired by Luca Giordano’s painting “Perseus turning Phineas and his followers to stone”. I decided I wanted to take a less conventional path to interpreting this artwork and to concentrate on poor Medusa’s severed head. Her story is sad: raped by Poseidon, cursed by Athena and killed in her sleep by Perseus, who still uses her head to achieve his goals. I wanted the piece to depict the juxtaposition of Medusa’s loneliness, her haunting voice echoing out alone in the midst of chaos.



1st Violin: Romana Szczepaniak
2nd Violin: Jaga Klimaszewska
Viola: James Cullen
Cello: Lucy Andrews