Verve and versatility

Gaulitana: A Festival of Music artistic director Colin Attard.

This year’s Gaulitana Festival in Gozo, under the artistic direction of Colin Attard, included a series of 19 concerts, which came to an end with two performances that had to be presented with some changes.

Last-minute problems resulted in the fortunate stepping in of soprano Andreana Yordanova and her accompanist Sofiya Narmanya in a lunch-time recital at the Ministry for Gozo Hall, Victoria. Dubbed The Essence of Love, this recital included works ranging from Scarlatti, Handel and Gluck to De Curtis, Gershwin and Bernstein.

By now, this well-known duo has become a guarantee of excellence. Their rapport is easily projected, their sense of timing is ideal, as was the choice of programme. Narmanya displayed her worth and versatility with the piano solos she performed, these being the superbly sensitive Chopin Nocturne No. 20 in C minor, the sheer virtuosity of Rakhmaninov’s Italian Polka and the dreamy Gershwin piece The Man I Love.

On a lighter scale and always on top vocal form were two Puccini pieces

Yordanova displayed her virtuosity no less. From the lithely charming Le Violette by Scarlatti, she plumbed the depths of pathos in Lascia ch’io pianga from Handel’s Rinaldo, only to explode in severity and drama in Divinité du Styx from Gluck’s Alceste.

On a lighter scale and always on top vocal form were two Puccini pieces: the coquettish Quando m’en vo’ from La Bohème and the tongue-in-cheek O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi.

Moving to the light, classical repertoire, the soprano sang the brief but passionate Als die alte Mutter Sagt by Dvorak, the brilliant Les filles de Cadiz by Delibes and, closer to home, a perennial classical Italian favourite, the charming Non ti scordar di me by De Curtis.

Having concluded with Summertime from Gershwin’s highly charged Porgy and Bess, in which vocal control never failed the singer, the duo gave an encore with the very moving Somewhere from Bernstein’s West Side Story.

The grand finale of this festival was, as usual, held in the Hall of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz. Mro Attard, with Stephen Attard at the piano, directed the Gaulitanus choir and soloists in a programme excellently devised by the multi-talented Terry Shaw, who also arranged all the music and presumably wrote the text for narrator Marlene Saliba.

This concert of excerpts from a number of musicals also ran into problems when two soloists had to be replaced. When one soloist was replaced, he in turn suffered a mishap and solo parts had to be adjusted and re-arranged.

Well, despite all that, the evening was a highly successful, enjoyable and suitable conclusion to this festival.

The first excerpts came from Strouse and Charnin’s Annie; three excerpts were performed, the most memorable of which was Little Girls with the irresistibly good Josianne Callus as the grotesque Miss Hannigan; and Mikaela Bajada very competently sang the solo part of Annie in Tomorrow.

The selection from Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun was more extensive. Here was the last-minute participation of an excellent Julie James as the feisty Annie Oakley and what a great show she put on. She’s nothing less than a firebrand, sings with utter conviction, to the part born and such fun too.

I just loved her duet Anything You Can Do to Shaw’s equally well-matched Frank.

They were a perfect match in the more romantic They Say it is Wonderful, and both displayed emotional versatility in their respective solos: Frank’s The girl That I Marry and Annie’s I Got Lost in his Arms.

Number followed number with slick rapidity, many numbers were performed with the choir, wherein the voices were always balanced and cohesive. This includes the children’s choir too. A smaller solo part was that by Jonathan Slater as Buffalo Bill.

Soloists were more numerous in the final selection, from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, which started with its Carousel Waltz, performed by Stephen and Colin Attard in a four-hands piano arrangement.

All soloists, without exception, acquitted themselves very well and, more to her credit as she was a last-minute replacement, was Marthese Borg as Aunt Nettie, her big moment being You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Completing the charming trio of sopranos all on good vocal form were Annabelle Zammit as Carrie, especially in her solo Mr Snow, in What’s the use of wond’rin’ (with the choir) and her duet When the children are asleep to Shaw’s Mr Snow.

The latter had his moment when he carried off brilliantly the great Soliloquy, but then so did he when he was very well-matched with Patricia Buttigieg as Julie in If I loved you.

The selection ended with a reprise of If I Loved You and You’ll Never Walk Alone, the latter in an ensemble arrangement.