There’s the passion of flamenco, a cutting-edge, visual arts exhibition, Shakespeare’s Globe, harrowingly intimate dance-theatre, bracing brassy music and orchestral concerts and even a performer-based circus show.
Some of the scheduled performances will delight, while others might disturb
The 15-day-long Malta Arts Festival is approaching, bringing with it a varied programme of theatre, music, dance and visual arts in a broad range of genres and artistic forms. Held mainly in open-air venues in Malta’s balmy summer nights, the event has successfully opened up little-used and special venues, including the Old Opera House ruins, Argotti Gardens and Ospizio in Floriana.
Returning this year are acts, which are by now considered regulars. Shakespeare’s Globe is back with The Taming of the Shrew; so, too, is Puerto Flamenco, whose passionate rhythms will open the festival. Another highlight will surely be provided by perhaps the most famous of the regulars – the Kronos Quartet, who this year are celebrating their 40th anniversary.
These long-standing relationships make for some interesting collaborations between foreign and local performers. This year, in fact, the festival will host a number of workshops and residencies, including by Kronos Quartet and by members of Shakespeare’s Globe.
World-renowned dance company Wayne McGregor/Random Dance will also be presenting a four-session workshop. These sessions will present dancers and students with a unique opportunity to work with members of the dance company which was founded by the multi award-winning British choreographer Wayne McGregor. McGregor is renowned for his physically testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science.
McGregor is the first resident choreographer of the Royal Ballet to come from contemporary dance. He has delivered world premieres for international companies, including New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and the Royal Ballet, and choreographed movies (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) and music videos (Radiohead’s Grammy-nominated Lotus Flower).
In 2011, he was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Services to Dance. In 2013, he has already created a new work for San Francisco Ballet, Borderlands. McGregor’s work has earned him three Critics’ Circle Awards, two Time Out Awards, a South Bank Show Award and two Olivier Awards.
During the Malta Arts Festival, McGregor will present Far, his latest full-length work for his company. Inspired by the controversial Age of Enlightenment cultural movement, Far presents 10 incredible dancers who confront the distortions, sensuality and feeling of the 18th century’s searing contemporary sensibility to a haunting score by the critically-acclaimed composer Ben Frost.
The Wayne McGregor/Random Dance Workshop will consist of four three-hour sessions; applications will be open until June 15, participation is €80 and a maximum of four observers will be allowed to follow the sessions of work during the workshop against a fee of €30 per person.
This year’s edition of the festival will once again balance high-profile acts with lesser-known work which pushes artistic boundaries. One of this year’s two festival commissions will feature the return of the Big Band Brothers in Ftakar 3, based on the lyrics of poet Joe Friggieri.
The other festival commission, Darirari, presents a show featuring professional international circus performers, local artists and craftsmen, produced by Malta-based Ċirku Malta, which aims to create a nouveau cirque with a Mediterranean timbre. The performance will bring together circus, theatre, fireworks, water, carnival, digital arts, magic and music and is touted as one of the most eagerly-awaited at this year’s festival.
In stark contrast to these events’ festive and popular atmosphere, Gwerra, Familti… u Ommi – a monologue written and performed by Pino Scicluna – is an intimate recounting of the war based on stories of people who, between 1940 and 1945, had to face difficult choices. And Two Room Apartment, a duet performance by Israeli dancers Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, reflects on the relationship of the two dancers as partners in life and creators. The performance comes with an 18+ classification.
The sea, islands, boundaries, Malta and the Maltese are a recurring theme in this year’s festival… they surface in Puerto Flamenco’s Isla, Ċirku Malta’s Darirari… and Swim: fragile interventions, a visual arts exhibition curated by Austin Camilleri, which will explore the sea both as a vastness beyond reach and a fierce border.
The festival also prides itself on supporting emerging artists. This year, this series will feature the Camilleri-Lucini Duo in a flute and guitar recital and a piano recital by Christine Zerafa a week later. There will also be concerts by The New Choral Singers and by oud player and singer Dhafer Youssef. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra is back under the direction of Michael Laus, with soloists Marcelline Agius and Nadia Debono, in a concert themed around the 20th-century harpsichord. The orchestra will also close the festival in style in a concert featuring the popular all-time favourite Rhapsody in Blue, conducted and performed by Wayne Marshall.
In the words of the organisers, some of the scheduled performances will delight, while others might disturb. All, however, aim to raise standards in their different ways. The Malta Arts Festival has established itself as a showcase of top-quality events held every summer in Valletta.
Listed by the UK Sunday Times Travel section on its Top 10 opera, dance and arts festivals taking place across Europe in 2011, the festival has achieved international recognition since it first started out eight years ago.
The Malta Arts Festival is supported by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and is being held between June 30 and July 14.