Charles Camilleri opera to be performed in Paris

Charles Camilleri's opera The Maltese Cross by Peter Serracino Inglott will be presented today in the Auditorium Saint Germain, near the Latin Quarter in Paris, by the Kooperativa Kulturali Universitarja and the Oden Opera Orchestra and Choir. It is being directed by Christopher Vella.

The Paris production is mainly sponsored by the Institute for Maltese Culture through its president, Marie Amelie Dewavrin.

The event is perhaps the most ambitious cultural project undertaken in France by Malta where the Maltese Ambassador Salvino Busuttil will be responsible for the opera's production. In 1985 Prof. Busuttil was responsible for the presentation of The Maltese Cross at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta.

Other sponsors of the opera include FIAP, the Foyer Internationale d'Accueil a' Paris, which offered hospitality to the participants from Malta, Air Malta, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts, JP Advertising and the Fondation de Malte, one of whose directors, David Busuttil, contributed to the preparation of the illustrated programme and organised the stay of the Maltese singers in the French capital. The Order of Malta in France will receive the proceeds from the sale of the programme.

Some 300 persons from all walks of life are expected to be present at tonight's performance and most European ambassadors have announced their intention to attend.