Riccardo Muti concert

We make reference to the letter Overpriced Muti signed by Neville Vassallo of Birkirkara (May 20).

Allow us to set the record straight in view of a number of issues highlighted by Mr Vassallo in his letter.

Renaissance Productions Limited, promoters and organisers of the Riccardo Muti concert at the Mediterranean Conference Centre on July 9, is a commercial entity set up with the aim and objective of organising quality cultural events, both locally and abroad. Therefore, and this is stating the obvious, just like any other commercial entity RPL takes the commercial risk in order to achieve this objective and in doing so invests in the hope of getting a return, which will allow further investment in other quality cultural events in the future.

It is with great pride that RPL has managed to lure to Malta the world-acclaimed conductor Riccardo Muti and the 85-member Luigi Cherubini Orchestra, personally handpicked by the maestro himself, after having auditioned more than 500 musicians from all over Italy during the last two years. This pride stems from the fact that although Malta is no Salzburg, Lucerne, Montréal or Munich, where international musicians and orchestras push their weight around in order to participate in these respective musical festivals, RPL nonetheless convinced the Ravenna Festival administration, Mro Muti and the Cherubini Orchestra to include Malta in their packed schedules of performances.

RPL has absolutely no difficulty explaining the raison d'être behind such commercial, and ultimately inevitable, decision.

The concert was planned to take place outdoors where a capacity audience of 3,000 people would have been able to attend. However, Mro Muti personally intervened in this matter and instructed that the concert take place indoors, thus securing superior acoustics for the audience. The Mediterranean Conference Centre, Malta's largest concert hall, has a maximum seating capacity of 1,400 seats, i.e. less than 50 per cent of the previous targeted audience. Hence previously calculated estimates had to be revisited, the alternative being cancellation. Rather than cancel RPL stuck to its objective despite the increased risk.

Mr Vassallo seems to have experience in attending a number of concerts on the continent but fails to see beyond the ticket price of these events. Huge corporations, financial institutions, local governments and central governments financially support the international music festivals mentioned in Mr Vassallo's letter. One need only enter Ravenna Festival's website to comprehend the kind of entities and organisations backing this festival. These institutional sponsors enable the festival organisers to adjust their tickets to more moderate prices. Moreover, repeat performances also contribute towards keeping ticket prices lower as expenses are spread over multiple shows. Such repeat performance/s was/were not possible in Malta.

Malta is not a natural destination for such events, and as a result RPL is single handedly taking the huge financial risk and the initiative to organise such an event, despite all odds. Expenses are enormous - hefty professional fees and incidental expenses, the chartering of an aircraft at considerable cost to bring over and return the entire Italian entourage, board and lodging for 100 persons, ground transportation, theatre rentals, insurances, marketing material, press conference expenses - and the list goes on and on.

RPL feel comfortable in taking this risk and investing in this event since Malta deserves to host one of the most renowned conductors of the world, allowing Maltese classical music lovers to witness a high quality concert without the need for entering into the additional expense of travel and accommodation cost, which Mr Vassallo seems to be accustomed to.

Mr Vassallo accuses the organisers of thinking poorly of the Maltese cultural intellect since the tickets are being sold before the full programme has been announced, asking "How do you expect people to buy such expensive tickets 'blindly'?" I hope Mr Vassallo apologises for such remarks to the hundreds of Maltese who "blindly" snapped up a large quantity of the tickets on sale in less than two weeks and who recognised immediately the true value of Mro Muti's presence in these islands. Mro Muti is in himself a guarantee of a memorable evening and all those who appreciate classical music should not shy away from this unique opportunity. RPL would like to thank all those who have shown their appreciation and also the public's response and support for this event. RPL and the public at large share their enthusiasm for the forthcoming concert on July 9 at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, the first of its kind to date.