Today sees the opening of the 20th edition of the Bir Miftuħ International Festival.
This series of classic music concerts, held in the chapel of Santa Marija in Bir Miftuħ, Gudja, has become well established in Malta’s cultural calendar and is seen as the opening of cultural events for the summer season.
The concerts are held in the late medieval chapel, where frescos have been discovered and restored that depict scenes from the Last Judgement, a theme often repeated all over Europe, in chapels of the period.
This evening’s concert will feature a young accordionist from Italy, Pietro Roffi, who with his performance entitled Solo Voyage will take us through a ‘voyage’ across centuries of music.
Roffi will take off with the famous Inverno by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) in its accordion transcription which reveals the violin virtuosity and the orchestral backing in its entirety. The three movements precisely describe in detail the icy (…Caminar sopra il ghiaccio) and windy (…Al Severo Spirar d’orrido Vento) atmospheres of the wintry season.
The performance will proceed with the piano collection Po zarostle’m chodni’cku (Sul sentiero di rovi), Nase vercery (Le nostre sere) by Czech composer Leos Janacek (1854-1928), with which the memories of forgotten times are recalled through the evocative poetry of this very original and personal music.
The four pieces by Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) will be a gift to the audience which has always identified the tango sounds of the Argentinian composer with the melody of the accordion.
The rhythmical and well pronounced essence of S’il vous plait and Sentido unico, the agonising story of an unrequited love, will alternate with the nostalgic feeling of Chiquilin de Bachin (a waltz dedicated to a boy who sold flowers in the theatre area of Buenos Aires) and with the religious and neat sounds of the famous Ave Maria.
The central part of the concert will include five beautiful miniatures by Edvard Grieg (1843-1907), part of his piano collection Lyriske stykker (Pezzi lirici) readapted for the accordion.
As with the other pieces of the concert, this readaptation takes advantage of the technical abilities of the instrument and its extremely colourful sounds made possible thanks to the bellows and its several tones. Gernika, 26/04/1937, by Spanish composer Gorka Hermosa (born in 1976) is the story of the bomb attack carried out in 1937 by Nazi troops on the Spanish city and which inspired Pablo Picasso’s famous artwork. The piece is characterised by a pronounced violence in its composition.
The last transcription is the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), originally meant for orchestra, which will be performed as arranged by Liszt/ Horowitz/Shishkin.
The piece is an exultation of virtuosity in an atmosphere which is both macabre and grotesque and in which Death (according to the short poem by Henri Cazalis) plays an out of tune violin and is surrounded by the dead performing an infernal dance. The powerful harmonies and the hammering rhythm of the Rondò Capriccioso by Wladislaw Zolotarjov (1942-1975) will end the concert.
Afterwards, drinks and light eats will be served in the delightful gardens surrounding the chapel. An excellent occasion for the audience to meet the performer and to exchange opinions with a select international audience.
Some tickets are still available at the door against a donation of €20. The concert begins at 8pm.
• Due to unforeseen circumstances, the performance at Bir Miftuħ on Saturday, May 28, is now a double bass and piano concert featuring music by Debussy, Casadesus, Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Massenet, Satie and Bizet performed by Gjorgji Cincievski on double bass and Charlene Farrugia on piano.
More information may be obtained by sending an e-mail to info@dinlarthelwa.org, or by calling 2122 5952.