A festival of music

Gozo's Gaulitanus Choir has launched the second edition of its festival Gaulitana: A Festival of Music, a post-Easter festival being held between Friday and April 20, a build-up on last year's explorative event.

A series of 12 concerts in various venues in Gozo, the festival will feature local and international artists/ensembles in a pot-pourri of musical events, ranging from the sacred to the folkloristic and from the pop to the classical, in which musical sounds are sometimes also juxtaposed with the flavours of local cuisine. The festival is artistically directed by the choir's founder-director, Colin Attard.

The festival kicks off with two concerts with a pronounced German participation. The first, with sacred overtones, is an organ recital being held at St Augustine Church, Victoria, on Friday, by Wolfgang Hörlin. This German organist, a prize-winner in improvisation of renowned international organ competitions and with several CD recordings to his credit, comes from the rich Regensburg music tradition.

On Sunday, Hörlin teams up with compatriot Franz Frank for a rather atypical concert for Malta, which will be held at the Exhibition Hall, St Francis Square, Victoria. Playing on two keyboards or in four hands, the two Germans musicians will present a programme consisting of improvisational music, which makes humorous variations and new combinations of various well-known classical themes. The concert is appropriately entitled Music, Humour and 20 Hands.

On March 31, a completely different event is scheduled. An evening of traditional Maltese music and food will be held at the Gozo Heritage, Għajnsielem. This includes performances of local popular music by the Gaulitanus Choir and the Ta' Saguna Group from Sannat, the latter a 10-piece ensemble playing traditional local instruments.

The mix of food, wine, music and the traditional setting of the venue will contribute to a really entertaining evening. The entrance fee is €12. Booking in advance is advisable. The Gozo Ministry's Exhibition Hall will again be the venue of the next two concerts on the weekend. On April 5, several young first prize winners of the important Austrian competition 'Prima la Musica' will team up to give a concert of chamber music featuring some flute trios, violin duos and a string quartet.

On April 6, the soloists who are active within the Gaulitanus Choir will join forces to provide a 'Vocal Galore'. Soprano Rita Dimech, versatile English singer Terry Shaw, up-and-coming baritone Joseph Buttigieg, the choir's tenor Joseph Calleja, English soprano Margaret Plant, alto Stephanie Buttigieg, and bass Darren Vella will perform a operatic arias, lighter original songs, operetta duets, quartets and quintets.

The Groove Ensemble from Italy will give an open-air percussion concert in the Gozo Ministry's courtyard on April 9.

Two piano recitals will be held at the Aula Mgr Farrugia, St George's Basilica, Victoria, on April 11 and April 18 respectively. The first recital will feature English pianist-composer Marcel Zidani, who will perform works by Beethoven, Liszt and himself, while the second will showcase German pianist Susanne Anatchkova, with her interpretation of works by Chopin, Messiaen, Ravel, Ligeti and Gershwin.

The Maltese husband and wife duo, Silvio Zammit and Ramona Zammit Formosa, will perform unaccompanied flute duos at Għarb Basilica on April 13.

On April 15, Sarah Spiteri and Alex Vella Gregory will team up for an interesting and atypical concert of 17th/18th century works for viola and keyboard at the Exhibition Hall.

The final foreign contribution to the festival will be on April 19. American singer Britt Smallze will give a concert of highly popular semi-classical songs, including favourite hits by Kander, Gershwin and Lloyd Webber, among others, at Palazzo Margherita, Sannat.

Her performance will be given in a nightclub/cabaret ambience during which she will be accompanied by an instrumental ensemble comprising Franz Frank (Germany) on the piano and Jean Noël Attard and Frank Camilleri, both from Gozo, on the violin and violoncello respectively. Refreshments will be served during the concert. Tickets are at €10. Pre-booking is necessary.

The festival fittingly comes to an end with a sacred music concert by the Gaulitanus Choir under the direction of Colin Attard. Sacred Finale will take place at the Gozo Cathedral on April 20. Stephen Attard will accompany the choir on the keyboard.

An optional reception will be held at the Cittadella Centre after the concert for which pre-booked tickets may be obtained at €15.

All concerts start at 8 p.m. and are free of charge (except where indicated). A donation of €40 entitles the donor to a reserved seat for all the events except the concluding reception.

For more information and booking call 2156 0200, 9925 8592 or 9994 9949, e-mail info@gaulitanus.com or colinatt@maltanet.net; website: www.gaulitanus .com.