The uplifting and magnificent ambience of St Dominic parish church, Valletta, will be the venue for the premiere performance of an oratorio by the King’s Own Philharmonic Society. Kewkba Mbierka by Mro John Galea, set to words by Joe Julian Farrugia, is a song wherein librettist and composer sought to project a celebration of St Dominic’s life.
Being the month of October, dedicated to the holy rosary, so dear to the Dominican friars, the King’s Own Band celebratory committee, set up to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the society, thought it fit to commission an oratorio to be premiered this month.
Kewkba Mbierka runs through the well-chosen music and text, highlighting the joy and beauty of St Dominic and the message of hope presented through this work. The premiere is occurring close to the conclusion of the special festivities marking the society’s 150th musical journey. The sharing of text and scoring for Kewkba Mbierka and the participation of The Choral Singers, under the direction of Mro Mauro Farrugia, soprano Claire Caruana, tenor Angelo Muscat, baritone Louis Andrew Cassar and bass Noel Galea are very effective and finely balanced. The grandiosity of the music will be further stressed with the authoritative inclusion of thoughts on St Dominic’s life by parish priest Fr Michael Camilleri OP.
The King’s Own Philharmonic Society will perform Kewkba Mbierka at St Dominic parish church, Valletta on October 6 at 7pm. The oratorio is being held in collaboration with the Valletta Cultural Agency. Entrance is free.
Mro John Galea, the author of a new oratorio on the life of St Dominic.Conductor John Galea
The composer of Kewkba Mbierka is one of Malta’s leading musical directors. Franco Donatoni, Charles Camilleri, John Gardner, Fabrizio della Seta and Lior Shambadal mentored composer, musicologist and conductor John Galea while pursuing studies at the University of Durham, and doctoral studies both at the Università degli Studi di Pavia and the University of Malta. His musical style possesses a Mediterranean-inspired idiom that warmly shines forth in his works that range from solo to chamber, choral and orchestral works.
Galea’s compositions have been performed in Greece, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the UK. He is the long-standing conductor of Chorus Urbanus (1979) and the King’s Own Philharmonic Society (2003). In December 2018, Galea was appointed resident conductor of opera at the Astra Theatre and conductor of the La Stella Philharmonic Society. Galea has conducted composition master classes at the Music Conservatoires in Trapani, Venice, Florence and at the Università degli Studi di Catania, the University of Tor Vergata (Rome), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa (Israel) and at Xiamen University, China.
Earlier this year, he featured in a Routledge publication on political commitment in Verdi. Last month, as Maltese editor of The EU Songbook, Galea was co-awarded the European Citizen’s Prize by the European Parliament for its publication.
As a University of Malta senior resident academic, Galea has served for eight years as head of the music department within the School of Performing Arts and has also been a member of the POLIFONIA III Cycle Working Group, an EU three-year project (2012-2015) run by the Association of European Conservatoires.