The Three Palaces Festival comes to a close tomorrow with a number of concerts spread out over the weekend.

Tonight

Tonight sees soprano Ailyn Pérez accompanied by Gary Matthewman taking to the stage at the Manoel Theatre.

Hailed by the New York Times as “a major soprano” and by Joseph Calleja as a performer who will bring to the stage “a night of vocal fireworks”, Pérez is increasingly in demand at the world’s leading opera houses and cultural capitals.

She is the winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, the only Hispanic recipient in the award’s 25-year history, as well as of the 15th annual Plácido Domingo Award. Pérez has played many roles at several top American and international houses. Her album recital debut Poème d’un jour was released to rave reviews.

Matthewman is one of the UK’s leading song pianists. He has appeared in recitals worldwide alongside singers, including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Thomas Allen and Sumi Jo. He is professor of vocal repertoire at the Royal College of Music and song coach for the Jette Parker Young Artists at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The programme includes worksby Schubert, Fauré, Turina, Hahn and de Falla.

Tonight’s concert starts at 8pm.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow sees two concerts taking place.

Soprano Nicola Said

Maltese soprano Nicola Said will be performing at Verdala Palace in the afternoon together with James Baillieu.

Said made her professional operatic debut singing Zerbinetta (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Opera Project at West Green House Opera in August 2015. She coaches with Juliette Bisazza in Malta and has studied at CSULB with Shigemi Matsumoto. She has worked with David Gowland, Antonella Banaudi and Janet Perry, among others.

Nominated by tenor Joseph Calleja to attend the Salzburg Mozarteum in summer 2014, she won second prize in the Strauss Competition. Said recently recorded and premiered works by composer/conductor Paul Carroll at Abbey Road Studios with the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra.

An accomplished chamber musician, soloist and accompanist, South African Baillieu collaborates with singers and instrumentalists including Lawrence Power, the Heath Quartet and Dame Kiri te Kanawa. As a soloist he has appeared with the Ulster Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the Wiener Kammersymphonie.

He was appointed a Hodgson Junior Fellow in 2007, a professor of piano accompaniment in 2011 and awarded an ARAM in 2012.

The programme includes works by Gounod, Hahn, Fauré, Bellini and Thalberg, Duparc, Debussy, Liszt, Delibes, Gottschalk, Respighi, Guastavino, Ponce, Quilter, Rimsky-Korsakov, Dvořák and Strauss.

The concert starts at 4pm.

Cellist Steven Isserlis. Photo: Jean Baptiste

Renowned British cellist Steven Isserlis performs at the Manoel Theatre in the final concert of the festival featuring works by Debussy, Fauré, Bridge and Beethoven.

As a concerto soloist, Isserlis gives recitals every season in major musical centres working with pianists such as Olli Mustonen, Sir Andras Schiff and Connie Shih. He gives most of his concerts on the Marquis de Corberon (Nelsova) Stradivarius of 1726, kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music. Unusually, he also directs chamber orchestras from the cello in classical programmes.

He takes a strong interest in  authenticperformance and is also a keen exponent of contemporary music having premiered many new works, including John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil and Thomas Adès’s Lieux retrouvés. Isserlis’s honours include a CBE in recognition of his services to music and the Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau. He is also one of only two living cellists featured in Gramophone’s Hall of Fame.

The concert starts at 8pm.

■ For tickets for all events, visit booking.teatrumanoel.com.mt. For more information on the festival and its concerts, visit http://3palacesfestival.com .