Many will remember one of the highlights of the events that marked the celebrations for Malta's accession to the EU. Indeed 'The Blessing of Europe' featuring Mozart's Coronation Mass, under the direction of Manfred Honeck, still remains in the memories of all those who flocked to St John's Co-Cathedral for that memorable occasion.
Mro Honeck has not forgotten Malta either and, for the past three years since that first brief visit, he has been trying to fit yet another visit into his busy artistic schedule. Fortunately, the Malta Arts Festival has finally presented the right opportunity and Mro Honeck will be back with members of the Berwald Symphony Orchestra of Stockholm to conduct a concert of popular classical music on August 1, in the Palace courtyard.
The concert also features Dimitri Popov, the up-and-coming tenor, emerging from Placido Domingo's Operalia, where only last week he placed a prestigious second, and our own Lydia Caruana.
Mro Honeck himself has, since his last appearance in Malta, pursued his star-studded career with unceasing success. Suffice to mention that only recently the world famous Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Mro Honeck as its music director for the next three years.
Manfred Honeck began his career as a musician with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983, first as a violinist and then as a violist over a ten-year period. It was there, while performing under some of the world's most important and respected conductors, that he chose to begin his career on the podium.
Mro Honeck recently concluded his tenure as music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he held from 2000 to 2006. In addition to his new position with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mro Honeck is also music director designate of the Staatsoper of Stuttgart and principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic.
His guest engagements have included the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester of Berlin, the Gewandhausorchester of Leipzig, the Staatskapelle of Dresden, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic USA.