With the dust barely settled on the first edition of the Valletta International Baroque Festival, plans are already afoot for a bigger edition next year. Artistic director Kenneth Zammit Tabona tells Ramona Depares about the high notes.
Valletta International Baroque Festival artistic director Kenneth Zammit Tabona has a lot to smile about these days. For starters, he’s fresh from pulling off – very successfully – the first such festival in Malta. A feat that, due to the typically niche appeal of the music, many would have claimed to be impossible.
The enthusiasm we generated across the board within the international baroque community is extremely flattering
More reasons to smile about: feedback about the festival was so positive that it attracted calls from a reader on this very newspaper to give the music aficionado the honour of Ġieħ ir-Repubblika. Upon hearing mention of this letter, Zammit Tabona gives one of his mischievous smiles.
“I found it hysterical,” he says with a gleam in his eye. “But, of course, I’m very excited to see all these glowing comments.
“The aim of the festival was to take the music to the masses. It pains me when people don’t come to these kind of events because they say they don’t ‘understand’ the music. There is nothing to understand, music is all about emotions.”
With some 1,100 people (some 400 people over and above the projected number) packing St John’s Co-Cathedral for one of the festival highlights, you might say that Zammit Tabona has succeeded in this endeavour. And yet, when it was first announced that the festival would take place in January – typically a dead month – many were those who scoffed at the decision. Hindsight proved it to be the right one.
“From a commercial point of view, people are always at a loose end in January, so a good event is more likely to be welcomed. Tourism is also at a low – with the help of the Malta Tourism Authority we advertised extensively abroad and it seems to have worked as we did get a sizeable crowd of foreigners.”
By “it seems to have worked”, Zammit Tabona means that after one of the first concerts, a group of tourists actually called back home and urged their like-minded friends to fly over pronto – which they did, resulting in a rather impressive amount of niche tourism given the time of year.
The decision to pick January made sense even from a strategic point of view, the idea being that by the time the V18 rolls up, the festival will already be established and will kick off the celebrations in style.
“These two decisions were crucial in securing government funding, which was essential for this festival to become reality. About 90 per cent of the festival was financially support by the government, a fact we are very grateful for. We are firm believers in justifying the spending of the taxpayer’s money, and I’m pleased to say the results amply justify it.”
Another feather in the cap of the whole team is the fact that musicians are already clamouring to be included in next year’s edition – those who took part this year, Zammit Tabona says, loved the experience, not least because of the beautiful backdrop that the venues in our capital city provided. Many pointed out that they never thought they would get to perform in such spectacular – and appropriately baroque – locations.
“The Throne Room at the Palace, the churches, the Manoel Theatre... all these added to the experience of the music itself, both for the audience and the performers.
“We did have some hitches, with some planned venues, such as the Salon at the National Museum of Archeology, falling through at the last minute. Hopefully next time round we won’t face similar problems.”
Zammit Tabona adds that next year’s event will be tweaked slightly in accordance with the inclinations shown by the audience this year. The Sunday concerts, for instance – both Toi Toi, which focused on giving the little ones a taste of baroque music, and the lunchtime concerts – turned out to be huge pullers.
“They were packed. Next year we will do a shorter run but incorporate three Sundays instead of two. The Toi Toi events are particularly important to us. I believe in educating the younger ones in what I like to call the Mary Poppins style – with a spoonful of sugar.”
In 2014, the Toi Toi events are likely to include Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, in honour of the composer’s 240th anniversary. Zammit Tabona explains his vision for an original production, with half the opera using puppets and the other half using simplistic scenery coupled with beautifully constructed costumes. The performance is likely to be a joint one with a foreign company.
2014 will also bring with it a lot of Bach, a composer whom Zammit Tabona says “inspires the divine”. The programme should include the full Brandenburg Concertos and four Orchestral Suites. The team is also currently in talks with The 16, an ensemble that will be performing Bach’s B Minor Mass at St John’s Co-Cathedral, “an epic piece of music that will knock you flat”.
Zammit Tabona’s passion is certainly one of the secrets of the success behind the festival, together with the enthusiasm and commitment of the rest of the team and the support of people like Manoel Theatre CEO Ray Attard and logistics co-ordinator Toni Attard.
“The enthusiasm we generated across the board within the international baroque community is extremely flattering. The scene is a bit like a ‘mafia’, with many musicians freelancing from one orchestra to the other, particularly if they play a very rare instrument. People are talking about it and want to secure a slot for next year,” Zammit Tabona continues.
The festival was locally being viewed as a litmus test of whether such events are viable or not. With 14 days of back-to-back concerts, the concept was certainly an ambitious one. And with the famed laid-back attitude of the Maltese – which means that people rarely plan ahead and tend to get their tickets last minute – there were a couple of initial panicky moments for the team. Next time round, Zammit Tabona assures me, they will know better.
“The festival also left two very important legacies. For starters, we established the Malta International Baroque Festival Orchestra, that includes Maltese and foreign musicians who will be performing independently of the festival. Moreover, it also offered a platform both for Maltese music, which featured prominently in the concerts, and for Maltese musicians.”
In the meantime, Zammit Tabona is busy scheduling meetings and finalising programmes.
“It’s never to early. The festival is a bit like a building. Get the foundations right and you won’t look back.”