Composer

The son of Angelo Cirillo*, a double-bass player who had studied with the great Zingarelli in Naples, Mario was born in Valletta. He studied violin and harmony under his father and Mro. E. Gilet. Cirillo founded the Amateur Musical Society from among his own pupils. He was also director of the Malta Lyric Company and conducted the Città di Roma operetta company in Malta and abroad. Singers like Maurice Chevalier, Mayol, and other French entertainers sang under his direction at the Palmarium of Tunis and he also worked as chorus master for the 1926 Royal Opera productions of Nani’s I Cavalieri di Malta. He conducted a massed orchestra and choir during a fair at the Argotti Gardens in 1933.

Cirillo composed several works, including two symphonic poems, Resurrectio and Fele tzigane; the intermezzos Rhuit Hora and Valse triste; two three-act operettas, Barisca and Tirolisa; two operas, Amneris and Il figlio del sole, performed in 1950 at the Radio City Opera House, Ħamrun. This was acclaimed as an artistic success but for Cirillo it spelled financial disaster.  

This biography is part of the collection created by Michael Schiavone over a 30-year period. Read more about Schiavone and his initiative here.