The Gaulitanus Choir, currently celebrating its 25th anniversary, has issued the programme for the ninth edition of its annual Gaulitana: A Festival of Music.
The festival, led by Gaulitanus founder Colin Attard as artistic director, includes 28 events featuring a mixture of top-notch international and local artists as well as emerging talent.
Musical theatre opens up the festival with a semi-acted production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s best-loved musical The Sound of Music featuring the Gaulitanus Choir and its soloists and accompanied by a combo orchestra directed by Terry Shaw and conducted by Attard.
Michael Laus appears for the first time in Gozo in a solo piano recital. Other top pianists include Alexander Frey (who will also give an organ concert) and David Boldrini, who was prominently featured in the important Italian musical magazine Amadeus.
The festival includes 28 events
A number of ensemble concerts are scheduled, featuring Malta’s top string players Marcelline Agius and Nadia Debono and the Duo Tortorelli-Meluso, recipient of the Mediterranean Prize, one of the highest cultural awards by the European Union.
The Keats String Quartet will present two recitals, in the former joined by oboist Nicola Fairbairn. These concerts contrast substantially with that presented by saxophonist Iacopo Sammartano and particularly that by crossover jazz pianist Mirko Maria Matera.
Vocal recitals will range from Spanish music to lieder and American musicals, whereas Ruth Sammut Casigena and Sofia Narmania will give the Malta premiere of a song cycle by Federico Gozzelino.
Choral music also features the Gaulitanus Choir that presents a concert with music from World War I, the Coro Lirico Siciliano performing sacred music by Sicilian composers and the Wycliffe Choral Society closing the festival with a grand concert featuring sacred works by Beethoven and Poulenc.
The highlight of the festival is the full-scale production of Giuseppe Verdi’s great opera Rigoletto, featuring renowned international artists, the Gaulitanus Choir and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Attard.
Director Enrico Castiglione will bring to our shores the production that was broadcast around the world.
Gaulitana: A Festival of Music runs from April 11 until May 24. Entrance is free, except for Rigoletto on May 22 at the Aurora Theatre. Tickets are available by calling on 7904 5779, or online.
www.gaulitanus.com