Works on the opera house ruins may not yet have started but the government is already looking at the artistic aspect, including the programme for when it opens in 2012.
Internal meetings are being held to determine who will run the open-air performance space, what kind of facilities it will house and the programme of productions, on the insistence of Italian architect Renzo Piano, entrusted with the City Gate project.
“We have to start thinking ahead. It is useless completing the building and not have anyone to run it. The project has to be delivered by late 2012, so we do not have much time,” said Chris Paris, CEO of Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation, which is responsible for City Gate.
“If we want a space and experiences of quality, we need to think ahead.”
Konrad Buhagiar of AP, associate architects of Renzo Piano Building Workshop, said the project was not just a construction Mr Piano would present and leave behind.
“He is not interested in creating a building that is not used. He wants to ensure continuity and good productions – not mediocre performances. That is what would ensure the theatre’s success,” he said.
“If the first season in 2012 is to be successful, with world-class performances, the government has to start working on it from now,” Mr Buhagiar said after a symposium on Safety And Sustainability at the Westin Dragonara Resort yesterday.
“The government has understood the theatre is not just a building but something that will attract activity to town. The question is: What is that activity? What type of people and performances do we want to attract?”
Mr Piano had set the limitations for the facilities and it was up to the government to determine what kind of performances to put up within these boundaries, Mr Paris said.
Technology, he added, would play an important role in the open-air performance space and was currently being developed.
In fact, the German acoustics consultants engaged by the government confirmed Mr Piano’s idea that the same conditions of Milan’s La Scala, for example, could be reproduced on the opera house site, he said.
A digital theatre was being considered and could turn Malta into a centre for the sophisticated technology since not many such venues existed, Mr Buhagiar continued.
“It does away with the transportation of scenery, making it easier for companies to tour. It is more contemporary and cutting edge, with economic benefits, cutting down on giant expenses because you do not need to employ carpenters, painters and scenographers.”
The Florentine Studio Azzurro, specialising in video projections even for traditional performances, including opera and ballet, was consulting Mr Piano on the digital technology.
“The Maltese are obsessed with the idea that theatre is a building. Mr Piano, on the other hand, has been insisting you can do theatre in the street. A good actor could be as engaging as he is behind a velvet curtain on a stage,” he said.
“As an architect, Mr Piano believes in society. He is not only interested in presenting a building. The old opera house site would be a square by day, doubling as an open-air performance space, marrying the social and cultural elements.”