Philippe Herreweghe. Photo: Eric Larrayadieu

Produced and managed by the Manoel Theatre, the fourth edition of the Valletta International Baroque Festival kicks off this month with 25 events in nine venues around Valletta.

Since its inception in 2013, the festival has leapt from strength to strength, attracting strong local support and an international audience happy to spend a week or two in the inimitable atmosphere of Valletta.

An international audience is attracted by a host of star performers – household names within the baroque world and without as well. Spanish conductor, viol player and composer Jordi Savall, Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe and harpsichord wizard Mahan Esfahani are only three of the renowned names on this year’s programme. For years, the three musicians have delighted audiences with their inimitable interpretations of the baroque idiom.

Jordi Savall. Photo: Philippe Roca

The festival, like previous editions, incorporates an eclectic variety of music, including pianistic transcriptions and 20th-century orchestral music that is inspired by the baroque, Respighi and Stravinsky being cases in point. Two requiems – one by Bonaventura Rubino and the other by Niccolo Jommelli – have strong Maltese connections. The Rubino manuscript was found in the Cathedral Museum Archive at Mdina, while that of the Neapolitan Jommelli incorporates responses by Maltese composers that have been researched by Ghislieri Musica in the same archive.

The festival incorporates an eclectic variety of music including pianistic transcriptions and 20th-century orchestral music that is inspired by the baroque

The festival promises to deliver two weeks of gorgeous music that elicit visions of peri-wigged grandmasters, swashbuckling knights and ladies in the latest fashions from Naples and Palermo plying the gridiron streets of Valletta in sedan chairs, dodging traders from the East, watersellers, herds of goats and peanut sellers in a harmonious cacophany of sound that, sadly, has for the most part been obliterated by the revving of car engines and the hooting of car horns.

Artistic director Kenneth Zammit Tabona.

For two weeks, the tinkle of the harpsichord, the gentle reverberations of the theorbo and the sonorities of the viola da gamba will surely conjure up the unique atmosphere of Valletta’s golden age of elegance.

The festival also includes events specifically designed for children, including a treasure hunt round the Manoel Theatre. Once all the concerts are over, the festival comes to an end with the highly-popular Baroque Festival Ball, when the theatre is transformed into a ballroom and everyone has the opportunity to dress up and dance to music provided by a string quartet and band.

The Valletta International Baroque Festival takes place between January 16 and 30 at various locations around Valletta. A full programme is available online.

www.vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt