Joseph Sammut, the composer who founded the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, has died. 

Sammut, 97, who was one of the country's leading post-war orchestra conductors, died at Mater Dei hospital on Wednesday.

Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said Malta had lost one of its "musical giants".

"He was the last conductor of the Orchestra of the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy, and the founding conductor of the Manoel Theatre Orchestra, that went on to become the Malta Philharmonic", he noted. "Thank you, maestro".

One of his last works was in 2020, when, at the peak of the pandemic, Sammut shared his composition Adagio-Remembrance which he dedicated to the "tens of thousands" who died.

Born in Valletta in 1926, his first musical studies were with his father, Vincenzo Sammut, a bassoonist at the Royal Opera House and a cellist with the Orchestra of the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy.

Following in his father’s footsteps, he joined the orchestra in 1942 as a bassoonist but the bulk of his career was spent in conducting and composing. 

For 16 years, Sammut was the conductor of the Orchestra of the Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy but that career ended in 1968 when the orchestra was disbanded following independence.

It led him to form the Manoel Theatre Orchestra, where he remained chief conductor until 1993.

Joseph Sammut during the Foundation Day Concert with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in 2023. Photo: Facebook

The Manoel Theatre Orchestra later developed into the National Symphony Orchestra and then the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Between 1970 and 2006 Sammut was the musical director of the Societa' Filarmonica La Vallette and in 1970 he also conducted the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra in Japan.

He conducted the concert inaugurating the Aurora Opera House in Gozo in 1976, followed by the very first opera performance in Gozo, Madame Butterfly, in 1977.

In 2023, Sammut took part in and conducted the Foundation Day Concert with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

The father-of-seven was also awarded Ġieħ il-Belt by the Valletta Local Council that year. 

Tributes poured in for Sammut from band clubs where he was a musical director including Għaqda Mużikali Sant' Elena A.D. 1919, Birkirkara, who said he had left a "great musical legacy".   

Valletta's King's Own Philharmonic Society also offered condolences to the Sammut family.

Sammut had been living at the care home Casa Antonia but despite being unwell, friends at the facility said he remained listening and composing music into his final weeks.