The eighth edition of the Valletta Baroque Festival sees  some of the best contemporary exponents of Baroque music from the international and local sphere performing in various venues across Malta.

The grand opening concert, entitled Porpora vs Handel, held on January 10 at the Manoel Theatre, regaled the audience with a taste of what the rest of the rich programme was to provide.

Francesco Durante’s Messa de Morti in C Minor was performed by Cantar Lontano, Valletta Baroque Ensemble and the Monteverdi Project at Żebbuġ parish church.

Starring the French period instrument ensemble Les Musiciens du Louvre and US mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux, the concert took the audience back to early 18th-century London, where composers Nicola Antonio Giacinto Porpora (1685-1750) and George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) battled over music, offering the most beautiful compositions of the genre.

Another highlight was the concert Inspired by Baroque, held on Tuesday also at the Manoel Theatre, featuring the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, directed by Riccardo Bianchi.

The programme included works by Richard Strauss (1864-1949), Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973), Luigi Mancinelli (1848-1921) and the more contemporary Andrea Gottardello (1975-) and Malta’s own Karl Fiorini (1979-).

Among upcoming highlights is a concert of sacred baroque music at Cospicua parish church that will be held on Monday. Central to the programme are the Stabat Mater versions by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Emanuele Rincón D’Astorga (1680-1757), together with Baldassarre Galuppi’s (1706-1785) Dixit Dominus. Taking part in the concert will be the Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri, directed by Giulio Prandi.

Members of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra during the Inspired By Baroque concert at the Manoel Theatre.

The Paris-based ensemble Les Contre-Sujets presenting their (Not So) Italian Concertos at Ta’ Ġieżu church in Valletta.

A member of the British ensemble La Serenessima performing during Sacred Vivaldi at St Paul parish church%2C Rabat.

US mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux during the festival’s opening concert Porpora vs Handel at the Manoel Theatre.

Jory Vinikour playing the harpsichord during Goldeberg Variations at St Augustine parish church%2C Valletta.

January 22 will see the musicians from the Spanish ensemble La Grande Chapelle performing a concert of works by Pedro Ruimonte at St John’s Co-Cathedral. Ruimonte wrote the music between 1601 and 1614, when he was Master of Chamber Music at the Brussels court of Archduke Albert and his cultured and artistic wife, the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia. The concert will be directed by Albert Recasens.

The festival will come to a close right where it started, at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta with the concert Bel Canto di Napoli on January 25. The chamber ensemble Amici Veneziani and German soprano Simone Kermes will present works composed during the golden era of Naples, with arias written for castrato singers Farinelli and Cafarelli among others, as well as music by Vivaldi, Porpora, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736) and Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783).

Other international performers who took or are taking part in the festival include the Abchordis Ensemble, the Ensemble Barocco di Napoli, the Capriccio Stravagante Trio, the Valletta Baroque Ensemble, the MOA Trio, Voces Souaves and Florilegium.

This year’s venues include  the Archaeology Museum, Biblioteca, Ta’ Ġieżu church, St Augustine church and St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral in Valletta; St Catherine parish church, Żurrieq; St Philip parish church, Żebbuġ; St Paul’s parish church, Rabat; the Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa, Palazzo Parisio, Naxxar; St George parish church, Qormi; San Anton Palace, Attard; and Verdala Palace, Buskett Gardens.

For more information, including full programme details, visit www.vallettabaroquefestival.mt.