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We caught up with Karl Fiorini, artistic director of the International String Orchestra Festival, who believes Malta is an ideal platform for a yearly event where musicians from around the world flock to.

How did the idea to start the International String Orchestra Festival come up?
It was December 2005. I had lived for a bit more than a year in London but I had to return to Malta because my mother had passed away and I needed to be with my sisters. I had gone back to London for my audition at the Royal College of Music for the doctorate programme and was staying at a friend's. I was complaining about the situation in Malta and how afraid I was that I would not pass this audition and end staying in Malta cut from the rest of the world. He suggested that I might start something there such as a festival. I spent the night thinking about it and the next day I came up with the idea: A festival for strings!

How did you manage to make it materialise?
I think that when you have a clear goal of where you want to arrive or want to achieve, one needs only to retrace his/her steps back from the point of arrival to the point of departure. It is very much like composition. A composer knows where he needs to create a big dramatic effect so he moves in retrograde choosing the best suited chords to arrive at his destination which is already there ‒ in his head. The idea for my festival was to have young students coming from all parts of the world to spend a week in Malta, take master classes with international artistes and give concerts to the Maltese public. With a clear idea and a goal I set up to write hundreds of letters to anyone whom I thought would be interested in this venture. As I am a staunch optimist, I succeeded. But, of course, without the financial support of Vodafone Malta Foundation all this wouldn't have been possible. Without supporters, it's hard to organise anything nowadays and I sincerely thank the Vodafone Foundation who stepped up immediately offering its help.

How will it feel to perform in your home country again?
It's a great feeling especially because it's also taking place at the Manoel Theatre. Since I was a kid and started to compose I have always wanted to have my compositions performed there. I'm going back to my roots, to where I came from; it's important for me to have my little corner in Malta. Also, it's a privilege to give to my people what is also theirs and to act as an instrument to show a glimpse of what is outside Malta's shores.

Did you choose to be a musician?
Of course not! I recall I never wanted to take any music lessons, but when my younger sister who was seven at the time started to play the piano, and when this interesting instrument entered our household I was intrigued and played one note. Suddenly I felt that a tiny door had unlocked in my head and I clearly remember imagining a lot of colours and hearing a lot of sonorities. I sat down at the piano and started to make up tunes. My sister patiently showed me what she was studying so actually I am indebted to her that I started music! A few weeks later I started to take my first "formal" piano lessons but I was very impatient and wanted to advance more and more... I never looked back.

How can music be a tool for intercultural dialogue?
Though music in itself cannot express anything, paradoxically it is a language that everyone understands or can understand. Music is an expression, a reflection of life evoking a need in man to express himself with sound. This is seen in every culture worldwide and throughout the history of mankind. As these cultures evolved to become civilisations, so did music elevate itself to become what we now describe as art-music.

How do you think young people in Malta fare when it comes to developing an international career in classical music?
I do not know how to answer this question but I can speak for myself and from the experience I had. There are opportunities everywhere around us, we just need to see them and make beneficial use of them. We need to work hard wherever we are and whatever we do, and by doing so opportunities are generated. The people around you see how hard working you are and proposals to work together will come. An international career comes by time, but it also depends in the line of classical music. It is very tough to make it but you cannot give up. When I encounter a major problem the tendency is to say it's not possible but then immediately react by remembering that nothing is impossible, everything is possible so I take the bull by the horns. I do not care if I do not succeed but I won't let any circumstance get the better.

What will the International festival offer to the audience?
Good music and lots of it! For this year's event a fantastic violinist, Emanuel Salvador, described by the Strad Magazine as one of the finest musicians of his generation will perform with the Rotterdam Ensemble at the Manoel. For next year's edition I have already been approached by the European Union Chamber Orchestra and performing artists such as the New York-based violinist Joanna Frankel, the French Cello virtuoso Helene Dautry and much more.

What are your expectations for creating a platform of cultural exchange between foreign musicians and their Maltese counterparts?
This is the most interesting part in the projects I have. I am not concerned in having people at the festival who just come, get a master class and then say thank you very much it was nice and that's it! I want to create dialogue, exchange ideas and create a unique musical experience. Maltese musicians can benefit a lot from this because it would give them a clear indication of what is outside Malta's shores. Malta is an ideal platform for having a yearly event where musicians from around the world flock to. Musicians usually want to know what the local counterparts are up to and in most cases collaborations spark off, networks are created and invitations start to be received.

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The Rotterdam Young Ensemble will perform two concerts as part of the International String Orchestra Festival tomorrow and on Tuesday. This festival is being funded by the Vodafone Malta Foundation in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of The Netherlands.

Tomorrow's concert will take place at St Augustine's church in Victoria and will feature music by Bach, Haydn and Mozart. The Manoel Theatre will host Tuesday's concert featuring compositions by Haydn, Stravinsky, Wagner and Karl Fiorini's violin concerto featuring Emanuel Salvador as soloist.

Both events start at 7.30 p.m. Tomorrow's event is free, while tickets for Tuesday's concert are being sold at €20, €15 and €10 with a 50 per cent discount for students on the presentation of a valid student card. For reservations and further information call 9929 5369 or the Manoel Theatre booking office on 2124 2398.

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