China: Renzo Spiteri's next stop

Multi-percussionist Renzo Spiteri leaves this week for a four-week residency period at the China Conservatory of Music, in Beijing, to work on a collaborative project with Chinese musicians from the conservatory.

This cross-cultural music project is being supported by the Ministry for Tourism and Culture, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and the Ministry of Culture in China.

Mr Spiteri has taken part in various cross-cultural music exchanges, tours and festivals, with a busy 2005 concert schedule that has seen him perform in diverse venues ranging from the prestigious National Concert Hall, in Dublin, to the enchanting Festival of the Desert in the Sahara.

His collaborations have grown over the years and he has shared the stage with a number of international artistes. His projects have been presented in various prominent events including the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. In collaboration with artist Vince Briffa, he was selected to perform at the closing event during Cork 2005 - European Cultural Capital 2005.

In contemporary presentations of percussive music, together with his JunkFunk! Percussion Band, Mr Spiteri performs original musical pieces making use of sounds orchestrated for industrial raw materials. His first solo CD entitled This Is My Language was released in 2005.

In January 2006, he teamed up with master kora player N'faly Kouyate (core member of Peter Gabriel's Afro Celt Sound System) in a dynamic duo performance entitled Chants, presented to sell-out audiences in Malta. This was the premier performance of their ongoing collaboration that will see them on tour later on in 2006.

Mr Spiteri and his music have been featured on MTV music channel and BBC radio stations, and as featured music in art exhibitions in Malta, Florence and Tokyo. He has earned international endorsements from world leading instrument companies Toca Percussion and Paiste Cymbals.

He was supported several times by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts on diverse projects. For further information visit www.renzospiteri.com