The 15th International Spring Orchestra Festival, titled Degenerates, will run from June 15 to 19. Karl Fiorini, its artistic director, discusses the various challenges this year’s edition had to overcome and the meaning behind its title.
Unlike many professional musicians, composer Karl Fiorini started his musical studies relatively late. When he was 10, he sat at his sister’s new piano and that moment changed the course of his life. “I played a note and saw a rainbow,” he remembers. “I then started deciphering the notes on my sister’s music books, and immediately wanted to play and write music.”
Fiorini has come a long way since then and has, to date, written over 50 compositions, ranging from chamber music to orchestral works. Apart from composing, Fiorini is also the artistic director of the annual International Spring Orchestra Festival (ISOF), which features concerts of chamber music, recitals and orchestral music.
Organising an event on that scale, with musicians flying in from different countries, is no mean feat. There are venues to be booked, travel arrangements to be made, and instruments to be transported. This year’s edition came with its own special set of COVID-related challenges.
“My travel agent had to book, cancel and rebook flights for the musicians 10 times, incurring extra costs most of the time,” he says. “We have had trouble finding venues that are approved by the health authorities, and we had to move the whole festival from April to June. Logistically, it was a nightmare.”
This year’s edition is called Degenerates, which is a reference to Degenerate Art, a term coined in the 1930s by the Nazis to ridicule modern art that did not fit with Hitler’s vision and that was considered inappropriate and decadent.
One of art’s roles is that of social commentary and I want this festival to provide a reading between the lines
“The composers and music I chose for this year’s festival were all banned or frowned upon by the authorities of the time,” Fiorini explains. “I included Brikkuni because they, too, were prohibited from performing at times.”
The frontman of the band Brikkuni, Mario Vella, made the headlines a few years ago when he criticised the then first lady on social media, which resulted in his band’s performance at the Farsons Beer Festival being cancelled.
“Mario’s comment was quite rude, but I understood what he meant by it,” admits Fiorini. “However, the point is that he too was silenced, like all the other composers I chose, and I chose this theme because people are still being silenced to this day. It’s everywhere. Governments and decision-takers don’t want to be criticised.”
Although every recent edition of the festival has dealt with a political issue in some way or other, Fiorini insists that he does not want to do reportage art. “I don’t want to necessarily comment about issues, but to hint at them. It started in the aftermath of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder,” he recalls.
“The following year, the pro-choice movement started becoming more vocal, and the year after that there were the protests outside parliament and all that entailed. One of art’s roles is that of social commentary and I want this festival to provide a reading between the lines.”
It is obvious that Fiorini and his art are inextricable. “I can’t stop thinking about what I do. It’s not like I can close the door to my office, go home and forget about it,” he says.
“Sometimes, there’s this chord I’ll be working on that doesn’t make sense, and I’ll be talking to someone and all I can think about is this chord and what to do about it. At times, I’d have guests over and I have to excuse myself abruptly, run to the piano and play something because it would have just come to me.”
He admits that although he loves it, the life of a musician is not easy, now more than ever. Many artists were faced with the prospect of finding alternative employment during the pandemic, which is when he realised that music was the only thing he knew how to do.
Fiorini’s advice to young musicians is to focus on their passion. “If you’re really passionate about music, you should go for it, but do it for the right reasons,” he asserts. “Don’t do it for the ego boost that comes with performing because that does not last. Remember you are at the service of your art. You’re an artisan first, before you can hope to become an artist.”
Tickets for Degenerates can be purchased from https://booking.teatrumanoel.com.mt/. For more information, call 2124 6389 or visit https://www.teatrumanoel.com.mt/.