The Malta International Arts Festival starts today under the artistic direction of Michelle Castelletti. Featuring a varied programme of theatre, music, dance and visual arts and offering a broad range of genres and artistic forms, the festival is being held mainly in open-air venues to compliment Malta’s warm summer nights. It will also include a number of residencies and workshops with some of its international guests. The festival is a member of the European Festivals Association.
The programme of events start with two initiatives, Angela’s Kitchen, a theatrical production, and a performance by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.
For more information, visit www.maltaartsfestival.org.
Fusion performance by national orchestra
Riccardo BianchiThe Malta Philharmonic Orchestra is premiering new works for Maltese traditional instruments and chamber orchestra.
Since today is l-Imnarja, a celebration of local culture, the national orchestra is presenting a very special performance as part of the Malta International Arts Festival.
Under the direction of conductor Riccardo Bianchi, the orchestra will be presenting five new pieces of music commissioned to Maltese composers Karl Fiorini (Variations on a Theme by Gesualdino), Jesmond Grixti (Żibeġ u Boċċi), Ruben Zahra (The Way It Used to Be), Albert Pace (Concertino Grosso) and Christopher Muscat (Mesogeios).
Each composition will feature traditional Maltese instruments, including the żummara (reed pipe), the żaqq (bagpipe), the flejguta (cane flute), tanbur (tambourine) and the żafżafa (friction drum).
The event is being held today at the Palace of the Grand Master, 58, Republic Street, Valletta, at 9pm. Entrance is free.
Angela’s Kitchen
Paul CapsisAngela’s Kitchen is an evocative piece of autobiographical theatre from one of Australia’s most loved performers.
It is a play about Paul Capsis’s connection with his maternal grandmother and her island home of Malta.
A journey that begins at a kitchen table becomes a portrait, not just of a much loved matriarch but of a whole generation. Not everyone has a Maltese grandmother but everyone has a grandmother.
Not everyone has a background of poverty, war and painful resettlement but many people do.
Where do people ultimately belong, culturally, spiritually?
Family histories bob and weave across centuries and catastrophes. The experience of a migrant’s flight from trauma to safety is a universal one – as is the resulting displacement and fractured family narratives.
Capsis seamlessly and often hilariously brings to life the extraordinary characters of his family.
Angela’s Story provides a window into an ordinary life, but an ordinary life made of epic stuff – war, death, courage and endurance.
This production is a collaboration between Spazju Kreattiv, the Malta International Arts Festival and the 2017 Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Angela’s Kitchen is being staged today and tomorrow at 8pm and on Saturday at 3pm and 8pm at St James Cavalier. For tickets, visit www.maltaartsfestival.org or www.kreattiva.org.