The Shostakovich Centenary Concert being held on September 28 will include jazzy material, symphonic masterpieces, film music and the Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings.
The concert, celebrating one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, is held under the auspices of the Ministry for Culture and the Malta International Airport.
It celebrates the first centenary of the birth of Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich and will feature the national orchestra under the musical direction of Brian Schembri.
The first piece will be Jazz Promenade after Tea (for two) suite, a selection of pieces from various works in a light style often reminiscent of circus music, compiled especially for the concert by Mro Schembri.
The concert will also feature pieces from films and stage works as well as a Foxtrot in 1930s Soviet jazz style, a Tahiti Trot and the renowned waltz used by Stanley Kubrick in his 1999 masterpiece Eyes Wide Shut.
This will be followed by Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings, with pianist Maria Blanco and Sigmund Mifsud on the trumpet.
With its mixture of frivolity, lyricism, nervous vitality and circus-like tumbling routines, this concerto, scored for string orchestra and trumpet, is a piano concerto classic, premiered by Shostakovich himself in 1933, thereafter becoming a staple of his repertoire.
It is written in an extremely virtuoso style and combines the serious with the grotesque, youthful vigour with a finale of frenzy and madness.
The third piece will be the King Lear Suite. With sparse and bare material, Shostakovich evokes the eerie, tense and catastrophic intensity of the great Shakespearean tragedy.
The concert will be concluded with Symphony No. 9 in E-flat major. This is one of Shostakovich's most neo-classical orchestral scores, sparkling with wit, mockery and hollow laughter, which from time to time, gives way to shocking moments of weirdly clownish grief. The overall effect is a deeply personal and poignant symphonic creation.
Booking for the concert, being held at the Hilton in St Julians, is now open.
Tickets, selling at Lm6, Lm9, Lm12 and Lm16 can be bought from all Go Mobile outlets, and through ticket hotline 7936 8368.
The Lm16 tickets include refreshments in the VIP lounge during the interval. Reduced prices for students and senior citizens are available.
The audience can also buy parking tickets for the Portomaso Car Park at the discounted rate of Lm1. Transport may be booked with John's Garage on 800 772 337.
www.maltaorchestra.com