Joseph Calleja to play Romeo

The rehearsals for the upcoming opera Romeo and Juliet resonated through the Manoel Theatre as the management committee raised the curtain on the sixth edition of the BOV Opera Festival.

Tenor Joseph Calleja and soprano Tatiana Lisnic, partners in real life, will perform the leading roles of the French version of Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, which is being performed in Malta for the first time on March 16 and 18.

This opera, which sees Alejandro Gallo in the part of Mercutio, is mostly made up of a Maltese cast including Albert Buttigieg as Count Capulet, Claire Massa as Gertrude, Charles Vincenti as Tybalt, Francis Mangion as Benvolio, Kevin Caruana as Gregory and Gillian Zammit as Stephano, under the musical direction of Michael Laus.

Shakespeare's timeless piece will also see the participation of James Vella Bondin as the Duke of Verona, Joseph Lia as Count Paris and Noel Galea in the role of Friar Laurence.

Manoel Theatre artistic director Tony Cassar Darien said the high level of Maltese involvement was the best proof that "our strategy towards giving a worthy performing stage to our high-quality local talent is heading in the right direction".

Mr Cassar Darien, together with Manoel Theatre committee chairman Wilfred Kenely and Bank of Valletta chief executive Tonio Depasquale, yesterday launched the festival which will run from March 16-23. This year the committee worked to provide the audience with a varied programme so the second highlight of the festival is the farcical opera Il Matrimonio Segreto, by Domenico Cimarosa, being staged on March 22 and 23.

The last time this was performed in Malta was in 1938 and according to musician and opera commentator Silvio Zammit farcical operas were the favourite among the Maltese, so the theatre was excited to gauge the audience's reaction.

This opera is being presented in a co-production with the Associazione I Solisti Di Operalaboratorio of Teatro Massimo, Palermo.

The cast features a troupe of promising young singers under the musical direction of Mro Laus.

This year's edition will also see the participation of the European Strong Teachers Association, which is holding its annual general conference for over 160 of its members in Malta.

To coincide with the festival, ESTA will also be giving a festival concert at the Sacred Heart Convent in St Julians on March 19, which will see the participation of Maltese pianist Maria Blanco and Polish violinist Wojciech Plawner.

The committee has this year invited German photographer Karen Stuke, who will be displaying opera pinhole photos at St James Cavalier, Valletta. The exhibition opens on Saturday and runs for the entire month.

Mr Kenely said the BOV Opera Festival has now established itself as one of the highlights on Malta's cultural calendar and it enjoyed a strong reputation in Malta and abroad.

"The festival is enjoying numerous positive reviews in a growing number of specialised opera publications around the world," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Depasquale said the bank was delighted to be associated with the festival for the sixth consecutive year, which reinforced the bank's commitment to be the leading patron of performing arts in Malta.

To date, BOV has invested over Lm50,000 in the festival and it was proud that the festival had grown to be one of international repute.

For tickets call the booking office on 2124 6389.

www.teatrumanoel.com