The 2018 edition of Gaulitana: A Festival of Music comes to an end on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the Opera+Weekend event.

The three days of cultural bonanza start off on Friday at 8pm with a guitar recital – Ritual Springs – at Ġgantija Temples in Xagħra. French artist Kevin Moindaze will be performing at the prehistoric temples which will be lit up for the concert.

Amarilli Nizza is playing the title role of Norma in the Gaulitana production of Bellini’s opera.Amarilli Nizza is playing the title role of Norma in the Gaulitana production of Bellini’s opera.

The festival continues on Saturday at 11am with a talk and curator’s tour at the Ġgantija Resource Centre, where opera director Enrico Castiglione will delve on how his Norma set designs are inspired by the famous temples.

In the evening, Bellini’s opera will be staged at the Aurora Theatre in Victoria at 7.30pm. Featuring a stellar cast with Amarilli Nizza, Stefan Pop and Anna Maria Chiuri, the production will be directed by Castiglione, with costume designs by Sonia Cammarata. Colin Attard will conduct the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gaulitanus Choir. The opera will have English surtitles. A pre-opera talk by critic Albert Storace will commence at 6.30pm.

Gaulitana’s finale is scheduled for Sunday at Sannat parish church, starting at 8pm. Saxophonist Philip Attard, overall winner of the prestigious Royal Overseas League Competition in 2016 in the wind and percussion category, will perform the Glazunov Concerto, while Kevin Moindaze will interpret the Giuliani Guitar Concerto. The programme also features Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and Bartok’s popular Romanian Dances.

Bookings for Norma are available on www.teatruaurora.com or via ticket hotline 7904 5779. A shuttle service for the opera must be pre-booked by e-mailing gaulitanafestival@gmail.com. Complimentary tickets for the events at Ġgantija can be obtained from the Ġgantija Interpretation Centre/Gozo Museum of Archaeology (the Citadel). Bookings for reserved seating and vin d’honneur are available for the finale. Gaulitana 2018 is supported by the Gozo Cultural Support Programme of Arts Council Malta, the Gozo Ministry, Valletta 2018 and Heritage Malta. More information is available at www.gaulitanus.com.

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