Baroque extravagance and opulence will come to the fore at the Valletta International Baroque Festival 2014 in January.

The second edition of the festival, to be held between January 10 and 26, follows on the success of the previous edition, which saw about 6,000 participants.

After listening to a live harpsichord and violin performance by Alex Vella Gregory and Sarah Spiteri respectively, Manoel Theatre chief executive officer Ray Attard explained that the festival helped boost tourism in the lean months. He said the last edition drew over 700 tourists, who visited specifically for the festival.

The festival’s artistic director, Kenneth Zammit Tabona, outlined the forthcoming’s edition colourful programme, which will heavily feature French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. Next year will be the 250th anniversary of the composer’s death.

St John’s Co-Cathedral will resound with the beauty of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor.

The festival also includes pieces from famous baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Handel and Telemann.

One of the highlights of the festival will be the Grand Ball, which will give patrons the opportunity to dance the evening away in masks and costumes.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Josè Herrera, said the Baroque Festival had become part of Malta’s cultural calendar.

“Valletta is a baroque city par excellence. It is perfectly logical to hold a baroque festival in a baroque city that also happens to be our capital.”

Lately, he noted, there had been an enormous baroque revival across Europe.

He said the upcoming years were a very interesting period in terms of culture, referring to Malta’s 2017 EU presidency and Valletta being the European Cultural Capital in 2018.

The Government was considering establishing a Manoel Theatre-based baroque ensemble and setting up a National Patrimony of Music, Dr Herrera said.

Proposed legislation regarding the creative economy would be tabled shortly to give a more economic dimension to culture, he said.

The festival programme can be viewed on www.vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt.

Manoel Theatre chief executive officer Ray Attard addressing the press. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi