April 14 saw the second of a planned series of lunchtime recitals of instrumental music by the Kalypso Ensemble at Our Lady of Victories church in Valletta.

The series, organised by Din l-Art Helwa will probably prove to be as popular as the regular recitals which took place for many years at the neighbouring Santa Caterina d’Italia church and which, to the disappointment of many, ceased when the restoration of the church was complete.

In this case, the recitals at the Our Lady of Victories church are also for a good cause – this church is in the process of being restored through the sponsorship of Din l-Art Helwa.

Music-lovers may be forgiven if they missed this marvellous recital because Our Lady of Victories church is temporarily obscured by hoarding which has been in place since the commencement of the construction of City Gate. As a consequence of this only a few people noticed the poster and so remained unaware of the recital.

Since such recitals also depend on visiting tourists, the attendance should improve when the hoarding is removed from in front of the church. Such recitals deserve all the publicity they can get – and this is partly the purpose of this letter.

The next recital is on Friday, May 3, at 12.15 pm; the programme of this recital includes compositions by Telemann, Bach, Boccherini, Mozart, Pleyel and Paganini. One of the pieces by Bach is an ingenious musical palindrome, the so-called ‘crab canon’ from the Musicalisches Opfer, which might have been created to tease King Frederick II.

Such musical events are too beautiful to miss and judging by the exquisite performance given on April 14 by two gifted musicians, Giulia Tavano and Klara Nazaj, the coming recital promises to be a delight.