The Maltese Islands Festival returns for its second edition later this year, giving children and adults of all ages the chance to do what they love – perform!  

Whether you enjoy dancing, singing, drama or playing a musical instrument, the Maltese Islands Festival will give you the chance to do exactly that across a huge range of categories – and even win great prizes.

The popular festival, which first took place in 2016, saw over 180 solo performances and 435 individual performances within groups taking place at St James Cavalier last December – and numbers are expected to exceed that this year. 

“The first edition of the Maltese Islands Festival was a huge success with lots of brilliant performers of all ages taking part in a vast range of categories across the disciplines of dance, drama, singing and music,” said festival manager Cathy Lawlor.

“The international adjudicators – who flew to Maltese especially for the festival – were very impressed by the island’s high performance standards. Now you can sign up too!”
The festival will now be back from December 13-17 and the organisers stress that this year’s will be bigger and better, with a larger venue especially for group numbers, and even more categories. 

“Having reviewed the structure used in the first year, some categories have been removed and others added in,” continued Ms Lawlor. “These include original song writing, duo/trio/quartet music, more musical theatre, Spanish ballroom, ballet pointe work, opera, split categories for adult and children’s choir, a pop category, as well as sections for brass, woodwind and strings instruments. Several categories will also be open to broader age groups.”

Once again, international adjudicators will judge each category, while personalised feedback will be provided to each participant. Also, awards will be given to the best performers. 

Early bird applications are open online, with the final deadline set for November 6. A full list of performance categories is available at www.themalteseislandsfestival.com 

“So, whether you love playing the violin, performing hip hop dancing or are part of a choir, and whether you’re four-years-old or an adult, there’s a category for you,” Ms Lawlor added. 

“We look forward to seeing you at the festival.”

To sign up, please visit www.themalteseislandsfestival.com or call 7944 5030.

The Maltese Islands Festival is being organised in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv and is endorsed by European Capital of Culture Valletta 2018.