Bless Gozo, our little sister, and all those who with their enthusiasm put together so many worthy cultural activities. Colin Attard is one such and his Gaulitana Music Festival is one of Gozo’s main festivals.
In the past few years this festival has also included an opera performance at the Aurora Opera House. The choice for 2018 was Bellini’s immortal Norma, which is one big melody from beginning to end.
It is a cache of beautiful singing, vocal and instrumental, whether lyrical or dramatic, always bel canto. It was under the usual energetic and efficient direction of Attard at the helm of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. He dedicated the performance to (his late uncle) composer Joseph Vella who died so suddenly last February.
Artistic director Enrico Castiglione chose to set the plot within Gozo’s splendid Ġgantija Temple complex, which matters little because the story, with its love, hate, betrayal, forgiveness and patriotism, has a timeless appeal and relevance.
His set smacked too much of a gingerbread creation and not a blade of grass or a tree was seen, when in the libretto there are so many references to sacred oak groves. Still, all that pales into insignificance thanks to the music. The Gaulitanus Choir was very well trained and was on cue without fail. Still, they were hardly given any directional leeway, remaining very static and rigid until they finally came to life in the War Chorus. From then on they appeared as normal as could be whenever the situation demanded it.
Norma relies on singers of distinction in order to impress and deliver, beginning with the title role, which was sung here by Amarilli Nizza, whose statuesque appearance was just what was needed.
She sang with a very wide-ranging voice that had power and tenderness with a greater rounding off of the latter as dishing out in equal measure when Norma’s complex character unfolds with all her strong and weak points.
Adalgisa’s is no mere secondary role: a weak Adalgisa could be a disaster to the whole production, but in Anna Maria Chiuri there was a mezzo-soprano coi fiocchi, a real star whose achievement was greater still because she was singing the role for the first time.
Like Nizza, Chiuri is a great actress too, and it was such a wonderful experience to see them in duets, such as the gorgeous Mira Norma and ensemble scenes, especially in the trio with Pollione or in the duets Adalgisa has with Pollione.
Under the usual energetic and efficient direction of Colin Attard at the helm of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
The latter is not one of my favourite characters. He is perfidious and selfish, but finally redeems himself in what is tantamount to a last-minute suicide pact.
Tenor Rubens Pelizzari was a last-minute replacement, and frankly he did not start off brilliantly. Yet, there was a hint that there was a nice warm voice that still needed some coaxing to fully bring out. He did so because he was increasingly up to the occasion.
Bass Gabriele Sagona , still quite young but with a beautiful, resonant and authoritative voice, was made to look the part of the old high priest Oroveso (Norma’s father) who could easily change from ferocious fomenting anti-Roman feelings and rigid father to a loving forgiving one at the end.
The smaller roles of Clotilde and Flavio were creditably and respectively interpreted by soprano Stephanie Portelli and tenor Filippo Micale.
This performance was flanked by the last two concerts of the festival. Inclement weather forced French guitarist Kevin Moindaze’s solo recital to be moved from Ġgantija to the church of St Francis, Victoria.
Moindaze impressed not only with his great musicality and technique but also in his rapport with the appreciative audience who could enjoy his music-making, which ranged widely in style and idiom. His steady yet sensitive touch could bring out different facets and characteristics of the music, such as the orchestral effects inherent in Giuliani’s Grande Ouverture, Op. 61, the highly personal Five Preludes by Villa-Lobos, and Albéniz’s Sevilla, in which somehow one could hear shades of the piano original.
Francisco Tárrega’s popular Capricho Arabe was very evocative, as was Una limosna por el amor de Dios by Barríos. Moindaze did not neglect a touch of the contemporary, performing Compañera by his teacher Luís Saldívia and Nikita Koshin’s slightly bizarre Usher Valse. Two encores followed: Jeux interdits (Anon) and Saldívia’s lively Malambo.
The festival’s last concert, at Ta’ Sannat parish church, again featured Moindaze, but this time as soloist with the 13-piece string orchestra led by Reggie Clews and directed by Attard.
Moindaze proved his great ability as soloist in Giuliani’s Guitar Concerto in A Op. 30. It is a beautiful and charming work in Style galant.
One could appreciate the frequently intricate guitar passages because the orchestra was under perfect control and never overshadowed the soloist. The soloist and orchestra were given very warm rounds of applause.
It was the same with the other soloist in Glazunov’s Alto Saxophone Concerto in E flat, Philip Attard. Performed in one movement and with a predominantly Romantic soul, it may be brief but it does not spare the soloist its many pages of difficult virtuoso writing, of which Attard made short shrift. He too was enthusiastically applauded for his magnificent interpretation.
The concert had started with Joseph Vella’s Lament Op. 103. After the Giuliani there was a rendering of Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, Op. 48 (less the Valse) and concluded the concert with Bartok’s colourful Romanian Dances. Performed with great zest, the audience reaction was such that the final dance had to be encored.