30th anniversary Christmas concert

The Jubilate Deo Choir will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with the annual Christmas Concert in Naxxar parish church on Monday.

The choir, under the direction of its music director, Christopher Muscat, will be performing works by Michael Praetorius, Albert Borg, Mykola Leontovich, Henry J. Gauntlett and John Rutter, music from the Gregorian Chant repertoire as well as traditional Christmas carols.

The event also features the participation of the parish's children's choir, Kor Marija Bambina, under the direction of Fr Matthew Magri.

On this occasion, the public will have the opportunity to hear the unique sound of the historic 1775 Santucci organ, played by organist Ronald Camilleri, which has recently been restored.

The Jubilate Deo Choir was founded by Fr Paul Caruana, then parish priest of Naxxar, in 1974 as a girls' choir and it sang for the first time at Christmas that year.

Since then, the choir sang regularly in all major liturgical feasts as well as during the parish feast, the Nativity of Our Lady. The choir performed at the Manoel Theatre on many occasions and also took part in the BBC production Songs of Praise, which was televised worldwide.

Under the guidance of its music directors, Fr Paul Caruana (1974-1983), Fr Richard Borg (1983-1985) and Fr Rene Vella (1985-2004), the choir witnessed significant improvement and gradually established itself as one of Malta's leading sacred music choirs.

Last summer the choir was entrusted to its present conductor and composer, Mr Muscat, under whose guidance the choir has been rehearsing on a regular basis in order to improve its technique and widen its repertoire.

The Christmas concert starts at 7.30 p.m. Entrance is free.

www.jubilatedeo.com