2024
18th
MALTA
SPRING
FESTIVAL
music · dance · performances
2 - 13 april 2024
2nd April Opening Concert
Dimitry Sitkovertsy & the Purcell School Chamber Soloists
St Paul's Anglican Pro-Cathedral, 8pm
Formed in 2024 to celebrate the Purcell School of Music’s collaboration with The Malta Spring Festival and the great violinist and conductor Dmitry Sitkovetsky the Purcell School Chamber Soloists is a string ensemble formed by a group of outstanding young musicians, mostly in their final year at the prestigious Purcell School based in London.
Programme:
Henry Purcell | Fantasia in D Minor In Nomine 15
Grazyna Bacewicz | Quartet for 4 violins
Luigi Boccherini | Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy | Octet
Dmitry Sitkovetsky, leader
5th April | Piano Recital
Teatru Manoel, 8pm
Recently graduated with a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, tonight’s performance will be Rachel Gauci’s debut recital at the Teatru Manoel. Rachel has performed in the UK, Austria and France and has been praised for her rich warm tone and emotional expression.
Programme:
Olivier Messiaen | Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésus
I. Regard du Père
III. L'échange
XIII. Noël
XIX. Je dors, mais mon cœur vielle
XVIII. Regard de l'onction terrible
Franz Liszt | Années de pèlerinage. Première année: Suisse, S.160
1. Chapelle de Guillaume Tell
8. Le mal du pays
9. Les Cloches de Genève: Nocturne
6. Vallée d’Obermann
6th April | Ensemble Télémaque
Teatru Manoel, 8pm
The Mediterranean region boasts a deeply entrenched musical heritage that thrives regardless of the diverse cultural and linguistic landscapes along its shores. This enduring tradition transcends time, leaving an indelible mark on the essence of individuals hailing from these locales. Here we shall be listening to the music of three contemporary mediterranean composers from Corsica, Sardinia and Malta followed by Luciano Berio’s acclaimed Folk Songs.
Programme:
Jérôme Casalonga | Nuraghe for launeddas & ensemble
Karl Fiorini | Fighting for Hope for mandolin et ensemble
Maria Vincenza Cabizza | 8 : Il ballo delle occiate for Launeddas, mandolin & ensemble
Luciano Berio | Folk Songs (1964) for Soprano and ensemble
Vincent Beer-Demander, mandolin
Michele Deiana, launeddas
Laura Delogu, soprano
Raoul Lay, conductor
9th April | Rising Stars Concert I
Malta Society of Arts, 8pm
The School of Music Saxophone Quartet
The School of Music Little Big Band
10th April | Rising Stars Concert II
Malta Society of Arts, 8pm
Born in 2007 Kellyann Spiteri is currently majoring in Music at Visual and Performing Arts School and the Malta School of Music. She has performed in most major national festivals and won numerous local competitions.
Programme:
Johann Sebastian Bach | Prelude and Fugue No. 24
Ludwig van Beethoven | Sonata Op. 31 no.1 [mov. 1] & no.2 [mov. 1]
Frederick Chopin | Nocturne op. 72 no. 1, Ballade no. 2 in F op. 38
Alexander Scriabin | Etudes op. 8 nos. 3 & 5
Margaret Bonds | Troubled Water
Kellyann Spiteri, piano
11th April | Contemporary Dance
Casino Maltese, 8pm & 9pm
Alba dal Collo, choreographer, dancer, singer and multi-instrumentalist has created a contemporary dance performance based on Petra Kelly, Fighting for Hope and seeks to evoke the essence of her transformative book. The performance, through movement and sound, invites the audience to delve into Petra Kelly’s world and her life advocating for a sustainable and peaceful future.
Programme:
Ryuichi Sakamoto | Oppenheimer’s Aria - Rain - Forbidden Colours
Max Richter | On the Nature of Daylight
Kate Bush | Breathing
Pete Seeger | Where have all the flowers gone
Alba dal Collo, piano, voice & dance
Giovanni Inglese, cello
12th April | Anecdotes of Maltese early Jazz
Teatru Manoel, 8pm
Anecdotes of Maltese Early Jazz weaves together live music with film, offering a captivating blend. Researched by Ġużè Camilleri and produced by Nix Mangiari, these compelling stories are presented in collaboration with Sugu. This concert portrays an extract from Camilleri’s research, together with musical arrangements and stories consisting of original compositions written by Maltese jazz pioneers, arranged for quintet by Dominic Galea. The stories presented are excerpts from for an upcoming documentary entitled Strait Street to Abbey Road. Adapted for screen and directed by Cedric Vella, this feature film is based on Tony’s biography by Ġużè Camilleri.
Selected numbers will be launched in vinyl format and can be purchased after the event. Pre-order is also available through the following link: www.guzecamilleri.mt/anecdotes-of-maltese-early-jazz
Ġużè Camilleri, drums
Dominic Galea, piano
Anthony Saliba, double bass
Florent Hinschberger, trumpet
Walter Vella, flute & saxophone
13th April Closing Concert | Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
Teatru Manoel, 8pm
The Malta Philharmonic under the baton of the esteemed Danish conductor Anne Marie Granau will close the 18th Malta Spring Festival with a grand finale programme of well-known masterpieces from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries, while marking Giacomo Puccini’s centenary from his demise.
Programme:
Carl Nielsen | Helios Overture
Franz Liszt | Piano concerto no. 2
Giacomo Puccini | Nessun Dorma - Recondita Armonia - Donna non vidi mai
Igor Stravinsky | Firebird Suite [1919]
Dinara Klinton, piano
Alan Sciberras, tenor
Anne Marie Granau, conductor
PROGRAMME
(CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE PROGRAMME)
ABOUT
Conceived and founded in 2005 by its artistic director Karl Fiorini, The Malta Spring Festival is an annual classical and contemporary music festival known for its innovative programming and commitment to new orchestral and chamber works.
The festival takes place in different venues in Valletta, capital city of Malta.
Each year the Malta Spring Festival presents its listeners with a theme (2017 From Zappa to Beethoven, 2018 Revolution and its Composers, 2019 Of Death and Maidens, 2020 Must it be? It must be!, 2021 Degenerates) exploring the repertoire from the classicists to today, rarely or unheard in Malta, taking the audience on a journey of cultural, psychological and personal discovery. The Malta Spring Festival takes pride in carefully selecting an ambitious roster of artists as well as in placing a premium on challenge, innovation and class, showcasing the new with the not-so-old in unexpected juxtapositions of programming, at times verging on audience “unfriendly”, emotionally relentless, and mentally demanding repertoire.
Running parallel to the evening concerts and recitals, an education strand of the Malta Spring Festival - Rising Stars Concert Series - welcomes up-and-coming local artists to hone their skills on the larger stage, encouraging them to think and compare less regionally, with the aim of providing these young artists in-the-making the necessary springboard to pursue their musical education abroad the limited shores of Malta.
TESTIMONIALS
"There is something so special about the Malta Spring Festival. Rather difficult to put into words but so marvellous ... Somehow one has the mixed sensation of playing in an important place, yes, but that the public (each one of the listeners) is an old friend that is following with connoisseurship, interest and JOY the adventure and the pleasure of the living music. And that this joy is contagious and you enjoy, while playing, the beauty of friendship."
- Joaquín Achúcarro
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