This year’s edition of the International Spring Orchestra Festival is themed around the Bauhaus movement and takes inspiration from Egon Schiele’s Death and the Maiden. Adam Brimmer interviews artistic director Karl Fiorini.

This year’s theme for the festival is Bauhaus, which apart from the eponymous band is more tied to a design/architectural movement rather than a musical one. What made you pick this theme?

Although the bond between the programme and the movement might seem subtle, it is a strong one. The term ‘Bauhaus’ came to me in my teenage years when I was fascinated by the discovery of new repertoire and composers; their lives, their friendships. A case in point was Gustav Mahler, whose still young widow, Alma, married the architect Walter Gropius, the founder of Bauhaus. At the age of 13 or 14, the expression caught my attention in a very vivid way.

However, it was only a couple of years ago when I was looking more attentively at this movement that it struck me that in a few years’ time Bauhaus would turn a century in 2019.

I started thinking about repertoire connected with or written during that period, which embraced New-Objective and Modernist tendencies.

However, I also sought to programme contrasting works of a more Expressionist nature. The image of Egon Schiele’s Death and the Maiden came recurrently in my thoughts as the face of this year’s edition.

Can you walk us through the creative process of finalising the repertoire?

Once I was set to adopt this theme with its hidden and less concealed tones, the play with Death and the Maiden could hardly be missed, and when transformed into Of Death and Maidens, the connotations implied took a more general outcome. ‘Maidens’ does not necessarily imply girls but young girls who are, technically speaking, still children.

Then, by default, this year’s festival’s theme has to do with death and children.

When would a better opportunity arise to programme Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the death of children)? This was the most crucial choice.

This year’s opening concert features Mahler’s orchestration of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden. What made you opt to put this in the limelight?

The original Schubert quartet is a very strong piece, described as a pillar of the chamber music repertoire.

Mahler pronounced the dramatic effect by orchestrating the work for string orchestra. The opening is simply spine-chilling.

At least, this is the physical sensation I experience every time I listen to it, and it sets the right tone I was looking for.

The opening concert takes place at the Salon at the Museum of Archaeology. How does this venue tie in with the theme you are exploring this year?

If I could have programmed more concerts at the Salon, I think I would have gone for it, because it is one of the best venues to listen to chamber music – however, this was not possible.

This year’s programme ties the classics from the masters with contemporary composers seamlessly. What can you tell us about the contemporary composers behind the two world premieres?

Your statement is correct; however, the works by past masters were either never or rarely performed in Malta.

I am a firm believer that contemporary composers should be performed alongside past masters.

One should not forget that even the most known works had seen the light of day in such contexts.

I also believe that in the Malta context, most of the programmes in the ISO Festival should have at least one Malta premiere.

This year, eight out the nine concerts will include a work that was never performed in the country. This is, I think, one of the festival’s strong points I’ve tried to set.

When it comes to world-premiering works by contemporary composers I always make sure that I know these works well enough and have faith enough to commission them a composition.

Festivals ought to commission new works. Needless to say, many composers send in their stuff asking for a performance. However, I have more of a tendency to programme what appeals to my artistic tastes and my benchmarks. My choice in commissioning Roland Conil and Dominique Lièvre came about after knowing them for a few years and familiarising myself with their works, as well as working together on different artistic projects.

Local works will be showcased through the late Charles Camilleri’s New York Trio. How do you see this work as tying in with the rest of the theme?

This was more of a personal choice, and I do have to say that it does stick out as the ‘odd’ piece in the programme. However, I must say that this is the 10th anniversary of Charles’s demise. Nothing much has been done to commemorate the man who was once recognised as Malta’s national composer.

Charles was my teacher; he prepared me for my auditions, guided me and also gave me free consultation lessons. I remember him introducing me to the New York Trio just as he had finished composing it.

He was very proud of this piece and I think he did hail it as one of his best-crafted compositions. My action was a small gesture purely out of respect for the man and his music.

On a personal level, which part of the programme are you most looking forward to?

I do have to confess that usually the first and last three concerts are those I look most forward to. These are also the concerts in which I have a greater say on the choice of programme, especially when it comes to the opening and closing concerts. The trajectory of where I’d like to lead my listener needs to be set as from day one.

This year is about tragedy, in the most subtle, eloquent and inner-looking musical journeys I’ve ever programmed.

I don’t know any festival that closes on such a heartbreaking note as the Kindertotenlieder. Many opposed my choice, but there is a reason behind this. This year will close on adversity and hopelessness, next year it will be more jubilant.

The title of the next edition is He’s back! The perceptive ones will understand, as will those who are more finely tuned in contemporary literature and film.

What do you hope will be the legacy of this year’s festival?

I don’t think a particular year bears any big weight on the legacy it wants to leave. Each year is a little drop in a pail. However, I think the Rising Stars Concert Series are a feather in the festival’s cap.

Maltese under-18s have performed year-in, year-out, most of them taking master classes by our invited guest performers, with the most successful being accepted at an early age in oversees conservatoires and music academies.

This year will see 12-year-old Daphne Delicata performing at the Manoel Theatre during the last three nights. Daphne is an extremely talented youngster who has already been performing internationally since she was eight, and who last January was accepted at the Yehudi Menuhin School of Music, Surrey, an institution for highly-gifted young musicians.

The International Spring Orchestra Festival takes place between April 26 and May 4 at varous locations. A full programme is available online.