The Manoel Theatre, in collaboration with one of its main sponsors, the Hotel Phoenicia, recently presented a concert in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom. This was an occasion for the Manoel to thank staff and collaborators and to provide a practical example of where such collaboration leads to.
The Manoel has its Teatru Manoel Youth Opera project under the direction of tutors Miriam Cauchi and Karmene Radovska, with pianist Ramona Zammit Formosa. They work hard with local young singers, some of whom are really very talented. All students involved are very determined to work just as hard, and this was an opportunity for all 21 singers to sing in chorus, with some featuring in various solo numbers.
Violinist Maria Conrad led a seven-piece ensemble which included cellist Simon Abdilla Joslin, who was also responsible for the arrangements. The first part of the concert consisted of baroque music and opened with the ensemble performing Handel’s The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.
All the singers tried their best in the pieces which followed, and which included three excerpts for solo and chorus from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. These were Now the Night, featuring one of the more accomplished sopranos, Charlene Portelli; If Love is a Sweet Passion, featuring soprano Dorothy Bezzina; and Next Winter Comes Closer, featuring bass Warren Vella. Now this young man has a voice which makes one’s ears prick up for the sheer beauty of its rich timbre, so well used in the middle and lower registers. There was a commendable commitment to the diction and expressive interpretation, but his top register is still weak and uncertain.
When I heard the first singer before this Purcell selection I thought how blessed indeed we are to have such talent in our fair isles. I refer to soprano Christine Barbara, who sang V’adoro pupille from Handel’s Giulio Cesare. A clear crystalline voice, admirable breath control, interpretation and superb diction. The latter was such that each and every word could be clearly understood with the right stress and accent.
This is a voice to watch out for, and so is Kimberley Caruana’s, another soprano, who sang Un certo non so che from Vivaldi’s opera Arsilda, Regina di Ponto.
Caruana was one of the very few of these singers I had heard before, and I noticed great improvement in her singing with a new, stronger middle range than before. Baritone Ivan Vella, who sang Handel’s Ombra mai fù, shows some promise too.
Another baritone who comes across with lots of personality is Mario Morales, who sang O Men in the ields with confident mezzosoprano Francesca Sciberras and his solo with chorus Ninu Ninu tal-Milied.
Two perkily confident children (Mariah Costa and Matthew Farrugia), sang Soffici’s Caro Gesù Bambino, but alas! not for Silent Night.
A Christmas medley concluded the concert.