The premiere performance of an oratorio entitled San Ġiljan is being held in the parish church of St Julian’s today at 7.30pm.
The music is by Etienne Spiteri, bandmaster of the St Julian’s Band Club, to a libretto by Joe Friggieri and is scored for soloists and chorus. The Coro Bel Canto will take part.
Although the annual feast of the patron saint is held on the last Sunday in August, the liturgical feast of the saint was held on Wednesday, two days short of the premiere of the oratorio.
This new work highlights the life of the saint, who according to legend was probably from the Ardennes region, now part of Belgium. He is normally depicted next to a stag which he was about to kill during a hunt. The stag spoke to him, saying that one day he would murder his own parents. The young man as he was then went into self-imposed exile in order to avoid this tragedy, but eventually the prophecy was unwittingly fulfilled.