It's Opera (House) season

Imust say that I am impressed - visibly moved, actually - with the comments people have been making on the government's decision to build not-an-Opera-House on the site of the former Royal Opera House in Valletta. The logic, the underlying patriotism and the emotional discourse have left me overwhelmed.

Many have pointed out that every city in Europe has an opera house. I am sure all walled cities have one just next to the city gate (and if they haven't, they should!) and therefore it does not make sense to build a House of Parliament, more so when this is a very common thing with every capital city having one.

The choice of the architect briefed with the building's design is also paramount in people's minds as can be seen from their musings that one can follow on timesofmalta.com. One reader rightly accused the government of being "so lackey to foreigners as to handpick a foreign architect and not open a competition for Maltese architects", adding that this was "no surprise" as the PN "has long been known for its submissiveness and lackeyism for foreigners". Another asked: "Isn't there any Maltese architect capable of drawing the plans for this project?"

It is obvious that we must at all costs avoid making the same mistakes that others have made. Look at Parma not so long ago when pasta producer Barilla demolished its old factory in a square near the city centre and instead built the Academia Barilla, designed by - you guessed it - Renzo Piano. Apparently, Barilla thought that there was no Parmesan architect capable of doing the job and gave a direct order to the Genoese architect. Pasta does not even taste the same anymore.

Rumour has it that on hearing of the justified Parmesan complaints about Barilla's arrogant stance, some pretentious fool who was behind Parma succumbing to Genoa allegedly muttered "mentalità provincial".

And it is not just Parma. In Paris, they let Piano do the Schlumberger renovation and the IRCAM extension; in Houston, he designed the Menil Collection; for Osaka he designed Kansai Airport Terminal; at Dallas he built the Nasher Sculpture Centre; in Atlanta, he did the High Museum expansion, while in San Francisco he designed the California Academy of Sciences.

He also designed the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The New York Times Building; the Nichols Bridgeway in Chicago; the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland; the Morgan Library expansion in New York; the Parco della Musica auditorium in Rome; the Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel; and the Aurora Place in Sydney.

Malta must be the last refuge of sanity in a world gone mad. But I digress. I must come down to earth: here in Malta, where it all happens. The Maltese would never be so stupid as to accept the horrible treatment meted out to the citizens of so many splendid cities.

The patriotic fervour that has surfaced in this latest Opera House season is just what Malta needs at the moment, now that globalisation is on the retreat and we can safely withdraw in our splendidly isolated cocoon.

And while we are at it, it does seem to me that not only do we desperately need a Maltese Opera House that should be designed by a Maltese architect, but we should also ensure that only Maltese workers using Maltese materials should be used in its construction, and only Maltese singers should be allowed to sing operas written by Maltese composers, played by Maltese musicians.

This will keep costs down so that every day of the year we would be able to follow opera while celebrating our love for culture that is inherent in our national heritage and identity - all for free, of course.

Unfortunately, tickets will come at a price: their cost would have to be just enough to cover the full cost of the building's electricity bill; although there would also be those who will be given subsidised tickets.

In this way we will avoid the scandal of having "such an important part of our heritage used for the sole purpose of political capriciousness" as one correspondent had the courage to put it.

Sadly, however, I am resigned to the real possibility that my suggestion will be arrogantly ignored by the government, just as it will snub other comments made by so many people. Alas, one should never ignore the sacred truth of the adage, vox populi, vox dei... from which it can be surmised that this government is made up of a bunch of atheists.

The world is duly worried about the effects of the credit crunch, but the fate of us Maltese is even worse. The government's big-headed, selfish proposal will undoubtedly prevail and no champion of the people will have the opportunity to sing Vincerò!

Nessun Dorma from Puccini's Italian opera Turandot (based on a Chinese story) never sounded so hollow and so... un-Maltese!

micfal@maltanet.net