Maria Frendo is Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Malta. She lectures on Chaucer, Milton, Dryden and Pope, T.S. Eliot, Romantics, Metaphysical Poetry, The Lyric, English Literature and Music, and Contemporary British Drama. She is Associate Editor of CounterText and a member of the Futures of Literature Network. She is also a professional musician, performing both as a pianist and a soprano. She has recorded for DECCA and GEGA labels, and performances have taken her to major venues in Europe and North America. She is co-organiser of the Victoria International Arts Festival, a yearly Festival celebrating the Arts, and curator of the Joseph Vella Archive at Il-Hagar Museum and Cultural Centre, Victoria Gozo. For eight years she was also Deputy Chair of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. She was appointed to the National Order of Merit in 2012.