Five concerts at Bir Miftuh Music Festival

The Bir Miftuh International Music Festival will this year consist of a cycle of five concerts between June 9 and 26, Din l-Art Helwa said.

The Chapel of Santa Marija ta’ Bir Miftuh with its medieval architecture of fluted arches and frescoes, provides perfect acoustics and a unique backdrop for high calibre musicians from Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Malta, and this year’s added contribution from Belgium.

The first concert on May 9 will be a baroque recital by the ensemble ‘Il Sogno Barocco’ made up of Constantin Chariot on the flute, Anne Renouprez, soprano, Katsufumi Suetsugu on the clavicord, Bruno Ispiola, cellist, and José Carrión Balbuena, counter-tenor. This ensemble of specialist musicians plays on original instruments and their repertoire promotes ancient and baroque music. The concert will feature works by Vivaldi, Haendel, Locatelli, Hasse and Conti.

The second concert on Friday, May 22, features ‘Music from Austria’. Two groups of young and gifted Austrian musicians, the SMS String Quartet playing violin, viola and cello and the Ensemble Pianoflauti will feature works by Haydn, Schubert and Mendelssohn and other composers together with guest artist Baritone Benno Schollum. The two ensembles are made up of prize winning students at the Beethoven School of Music in Mödling near Vienna. They are enthusiastic performers who love to make music, and all are winners of first prizes of prestigious Austrian competitions. They have considerable concert experience both at home and abroad and were also greatly acclaimed at the Gaulitanus Festival in Gozo last year.

Guest performer Austrian Baritone Benno Schollum has sung across four continents during his international career. He has worked with eminent conductors such as Yehudi Menuhin, Stefan Soltesz, Mstislav Rostropovich and Vladimir Fedoseyev, and has appeared with the Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra and many others. Since 2004 Benno Schollum has been a regular guest in Malta’s concert halls.

He sang alongside tenor Joseph Calleja at the concert to celebrate Malta’s joining the European Union, and most recently gave a concert to celebrate the birthday of retiring President Dr. E. Fenech Adami. He lectures at the University of Music & Performing Arts in Vienna.

A Flute and Accordion Concert by the Duo Arcadio Baracchi and Ivano Battiston is the third concert on the June 6, an unusual Flute and Accordion recital. These two established Italian musicians are protaganists in many renowned festivals and follow extensive concert calendars. Arcadio Baracchi, who lectures at the Accademia di Musica di Firenze, has performed at the Maggio Musciale Fiorentino, the Biennale di Venezia, while Ivano Battiston, has played as a solo accordionist with many leading orchestras amongst which the RAI Torino, Milano Classica, the Arturo Toscanini Emilia Romagna Symphony Orchestra. Their repertoire will include works by Bartok/Battiston, M. Panni, J.S. Bach, I.Battiston and Piazzolla/Battiston.

The fourth concert, on Friday June 19 will be a Violin, Viola and Cello Recital by the ProMuzika Ensemble composed of Nemania Ljubinkovic on the violin, Sarah Spiteri, on the viola, and Rahia Angela Awalom on the cello.

Formed in 2004, The ProMuzika Ensemble is one of Malta’s leading chamber ensembles which aims at holding performances in historical venues thus combining the promotion of music with Maltese cultural heritage. Members of ProMuzika represented Malta in the Europa Musicale Festival held in Germany, performed in Berlin at the Berliner Konzerthaus, in Leipzig at the Gewandhaus and in Wiesbaden at the Kurthaus and at Aino Ackte Concert House in Helsinki. The two main works to be performed at the concert are Bach - Art of the Fugue and Mozart - String Trio in E flat Major

The final concert on June 26, will be a Vocal and Harp Concert by Marie-Pierre Wattiez, soprano, and Anne Marie Camilleri Podestá on the harp.

Marie Pierre Wattiez is a Parisian born soprano whose repertoire ranges from Gregorian chant to contemporary music. She has sung under the direction of Carlo Maria Giulini, Sir Georg Solti, John Elliott Gardiner and other celebrated directors, and also teaches Vocal Technique at the Sorbonne. Anne Marie Camilleri Podestá, specializing on the harp is a member of the Ġukulari Ensemble with whom she has played in Budapest, Vienna and Bologna. She has also played extensively overseas and with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and accompanied tenor Joseph Calleja in Malta. Their programme covers works by Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, Guinod, Berlioz and Duparc.

All concerts start at 8.00p.m. Tickets for each concert cost €20 per person, including refreshments after the performance. All funds raised through the Bir Miftuh Music Festival are dedicated to the Din l-Art Helwa’s restoration programme.