MUSIC

An Evening With ĠENN

Anglo-Maltese post-punk band ĠENN will present material from their six-track EP Liminal and upcoming material at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta today at 8pm.

They will be supported by Hearts Beating in Time, an electronic songwriter and sound designer from Malta, with influences ranging from Four Tet to Niina, Jamie xx and Kraftwerk.

For tickets, visit kreattivita.org.

Beland Music Festival

The Beland Music Festival returns next weekend for four days of music in Market Square, Żejtun.

The Travellers, supported by Tea Crisis and Kersten Graham, will perform today, while Ira Losco, backed up by Cheryl Balzan and Captain Romance and the Danger Dogs, will take to the stage tomorrow. Entrance is by donation. VIP tickets are available from showshappening.com.

Sunday will see the Spiteri Lucas Band perform alongside popular singers Ozzy Lino, Brooke, Claudia Faniello, Kevin Borg, Maria Daniela Camilleri and Ryan Hili in the show Beland Spectacular. Entrance is free.

The festival will come to a close on Monday, with a concert by BoyzLife − formed by Keith Duffy and Brian McFadden, previously members of Boyzone and Westlife − who will perform some of these bands’ greatest hits. They will be supported by local band South Garden. Tickets are available here.

For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

ARTS

Amora

Contemporary circus company Cirque du Soleil is back in Malta with another original show, this time combining acrobatics and heart-pumping performances to celebrate love.

The story centres around a clumsy but lovable character, Bruno, who, while gazing up to the skies of Valletta, sets eyes on a mysterious woman, Loulou. Captivated, he tries to climb up to her balcony to reach her… but she flies away and vanishes out of sight. He, thus, sets out on a quest to find her, meeting colourful new friends with extraordinary powers along the way.

Shows are taking place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta  until December 18. For tickets, visit showshappening.com. For more information, check cirquedusoleil/amora.

FILM

Month of European Film

The Eden Cinemas in St Julian's is today showing the 2021 Spanish film Official Competition as part of the Month of European Film. The comedy drama, certified 15 and starring Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, will be shown in its original language with English subtitles.

Across Europe, partner cinemas in 35 countries from Reykjavik to Athens, from Lisbon to Bucharest, but also including small towns and networks, are highlighting European films, presenting special programmes, events and dedicated retrospectives for four weeks.

The Month of European Film kicked off on November 13 with the European Arthouse Cinema Day and the European Film Academy’s Young Audience Award. Instead of a uniform catalogue, each participating cinema is creating a unique programme according to their expertise and catering to their audience’s taste. The Month of European Film culminates tomorrow at the 35th European Film Awards in Reykjavik, Iceland.

For tickets and more info, click here.

CHRISTMAS EVENTS

Christmas in the Capital

Valletta is hosting a programme of Christmas-related activities until the end of December.

There are Christmas trees in Freedom Square, Republic Street and Merchants Street, Christmas lights in Republic and Merchants streets, an artistic light installation in South Street and a crib next to St John's Co-Cathedral.

The programme, organised by the Valletta Cultural Agency, includes various music and artistic performances throughout the coming weeks, and will culminate with the New Year's Eve concert in St George's Square on December 31.

For details of the programme, visit vca.gov.mt.

The Magical Illuminated Trail

Verdala Palace in Buskett is once again hosting the Magical Illuminated Trail, featuring new and bigger attractions, light Installations, projections and a new Christmas village. 

The magical after-dark adventure for all the family runs until January 7. Proceeds from the event will go towards the Malta Community Chest Fund.

For tickets, click here.

Other Christmas villages and attractions

Triton Square, in Valletta, is hosting Fairyland − Santa’s City, featuring favourite attractions such as Rudolph’s Wheel, an ice-skating rink and a Christmas market, as well as a World Cup Village. Santa’s City runs until January 6.

The Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali is hosting Santa’s World Malta until January 1. Activities include an elf school and cinema, Santa’s House, live shows and entertainment by Danusan.

Other Christmas villages are set up at the Artisan Village in Ta’ Qali (until December 24), the Salina National Park in St Paul's Bay (until December 18), Popeye Village in Mellieħa (until January 8) and the Malta National Aquarium in Qawra (until January 8).

A whole programme of activities is also planned for this month at the Valletta Waterfront. 

In Gozo, Villa Rundle Gardens in Victoria is hosting a Christmas market until December 18.

Various towns and villages are holding their own events. Among others, the Swieqi local council is organising various activities in A Swieqi Christmas 2022, running and Mosta is holding an event titled Villaġġ tal-Milied fil-Mosta, while in Gozo, Xewkija is hosting Christmas in the Square and Kerċem is holding a Christmas market. These four events are running until Sunday.

For more information, click on the links above.

VISUAL ARTS

It's All Paperwork

An exhibition of sculptures in Maltese globigerina limestone by Antoine Farrugia is on display at the Parliament building in Valletta until Sunday, December 11.

The stone is transformed into what can be perceived as almost sheets of paper, from origami to scrolls of paper and other shapes which seem to defy gravity.

It’s All Paperwork, held under the patronage of Anġlu Farrugia, speaker of the House of Representatives, is organised by the Valletta Cultural Agency. Log on to the event’s Facebook page for more information.

The Malta Photographic Society Annual Exhibition

The 57th edition of the National Competition and Exhibition of Photography, organised annually by the Malta Photographic Society, opens today at Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta, the seat of the Malta Society of Arts (MSA). 

This year, 74 photographers submitted around 700 photos for the competition. From these, the jury chose more than 100 works that are being exhibited as printed and framed photographs, as well as over 110 digital photos to be displayed on a monitor. The jury was made up of eight experts in the field of photography. 

The competition honoured photographs in the four categories of colour prints, monochrome prints, colour projected images and monochrome projected images.

The exibition will be open until December 22; Monday to Friday from 9am to 7pm and Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. It is closed on Sundays and public holidays. Entrance is free. Anyone who would like a guide should contact the MPS on info@mpsmalta.com. For more details about the exhibition visit www.artsmalta.org/events or www.facebook.com/maltasocietyofarts.

Artsy Christmas

A selection of Christmas-related artworks and more by a number of artists is on show at the Art by the Seaside gallery in Senglea.

The collective exhibition, as the name indicates, is linked to the Christmas season, having a wide range of hand-made arts, from candles, to jewellery to Christmas decorations and obviously wall hanging works.

Participating artists include Kevin Attard, Dave Calleja, David Debono, Rebecca Ranieri, Thomas Scerri and Kevin Sciberras, among many others.

Artsy Christmas runs until Sunday, December 11. Refer to the venue’s Facebook page for more information.

Mediterranean Dreams Part 2

Following his exhibition titled Mediterranean Dreams, Kenneth Zammit Tabona presents the second chapter in his idyllic depictions of our country’s way of life.

The over 30 watercolour works are 'fuoridentros' in which gardens, pockets of landscapes, chapels, watchtowers and Montgolfiers are observed through open windows, thus bringing the outside in.

Mediterranean Dreams 2, curated by Charlene Vella, Mdina, is on display at Xara Palace in Mdina until December 22. Part of the proceeds from sales will be donated to Id-Dar tal-Providenza.

Consult the artist’s Facebook page for more information.

Gabarrón: The Colours of Hope

Spazju Kreattiv is hosting an exhibition by Spanish artist Cristóbal Gabarrón dedicated to the United Nations, with his work focusing on the universe of peace, parliamentarism, freedom and human rights. 

Apart from the main exhibition, the project also includes a public installation at St George's Square, Valletta, entitled Universo de Luz (Enlightened Universe), and an AMBIT event at Ġgantija Temples, Xagħra, that brought together artistic creations on biodiversity and the values of integral heritage that will travel the five continents.

The exhibition, curated by Rupert Cefai, runs until Sunday, December 11. For more information, visit kreattivita.org.

Nuances

An exhibition by Carmel Bonello and Peter Seychell is open at Gemelli Framing in Ta' Qali.

The title of the exhibition essentially defines a spectrum of inspirational sources, especially so when the whole enterprise is that between two artists who have an identifiable and very personalised style of expression.

Bonello is a veteran of the local art scene; with expressionism finding its way very earlier on into his oeuvre. He explores the world around him in full colour, black lines delineating the composition.

Seychell is a relative newcomer to the local art scene. However, his impressive intricate paintings have captured the attention of the art-loving public. 

Nuances runs until December 23. Consult this Facebook group for opening hours and more information.

Versatility

Veteran artist Joseph Barbara is exhibiting an array of his works, dating back to 2000, at Wignacourt Museum in Rabat.

The artist is renowned for recycling plastic mineral bottles to construct sculptures that deliver an environmental message. This exhibition, however, also includes his paintings which range from ones that have a strong pop-art imagery, featuring mostly ballroom dancers, to others having an oriental theme and on to multi-thematic collages.

Versatility runs until December 28. The museum is open daily from 9.30am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.15pm.

Don Heywood: Artist in Residence at the Phoenicia

Don Heywood, a distinguished British painter specialising in portraits and wildlife studies, is currently exhibiting at the Palm Court Lounge of the Phoenicia Hotel.

The artist is presenting paintings related to the seven important migratory birds that are found on the Maltese islands, these being the hawfinch, the goldfinch, the linnet, the greenfinch, the siskin, the serin and the chaffinch.

Also included in this exhibition are three large paintings of two endangered species of wild animals, the snow leopard and the polar bear.

The exhibition, curated by Louis Laganà, runs at Phoenicia Malta until January 1.

Art at the Corinthia Palace

The Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard is hosting a collective exhibition of contemporary artworks by 13 local and international artists.

The paintings are from the Allura Art collection and range from landscapes and seascapes to florals and abstracts. They include new and previously unseen work.

The artists taking part are Andrew Borg, Christine Porter Lofaro, Jo Dounis, Kevin Sciberras, Debbie Bonello and Rosette Bonello from Malta and Christopher Saliba and Bob Cardona from Gozo. Foreign locals include British-Maltese painter Andrew Smith, Bulgarians Vania Goshe and Bogdan Dyulgerov, Natasha Dadush from Russia and Marianne Ogden from the US.

The exhibition runs until January 8. More information about the exhibition is available here.

I Landed. Malta

Spazju Kreattiv and the Marlands Project have collaborated on a new exhibition featuring works by French artists Edgar Sarin, Lucy Orta and Max Fouchy and Maltese counterpart Sheldon Saliba.

Guest artist Sarin explored the island during his art residency in Malta as part of the Marlands project. His immersive, multilayered art project is the result of productive dialogues with islanders specialising in craft, culture and science.

During this exhibition, one can also take a trip to other Mediterranean islands through the artists’ work: Orta will take visitors to the Balearic Islands, and Max Fouchy to Sicily.

I Landed. Malta is curated by Elena Posokhova and Vince Briffa.

After the exhibition closes on January 8, it will move on to Catania, Sicily; Palma, Mallorca; Nicosia, Cyprus and Mallorca, Spain. For more information, click here.

Expressions

An exhibition by Rachel Galea has opened at Il-Ħaġar - Heart of Gozo Museum, featuring 31 of her latest works inspired by Gozo’s landscape. 

The exhibition runs until January 10. The museum is open daily from 9am to 5pm. Entrance is free.

For more information, click here.

Sights and sites

A new exhibition by Silvio John Camilleri at the King’s Own Band Club in Valletta investigates contemporary reality in which the ugliness of roads and pristine countryside have to co-exist as a dichotomy in Malta’s way of life.

Yet, the artist deciphers beauty even in the most inauspicious of locations, such as in the geometry of the road network and its juxtaposition with trees, streetlights and general urban elements.

Sights and Sites, curated by Fleur-Marie Ebejer, is on until January 11. Refer to the artist’s Facebook profile for more information.

OTHER EXHIBITIONS

Sunetti: Minn Fomm u Qalb il-Poplu

Malta Libraries is holding an exhibition on Maltese sonnets at the National Library of Malta in Valletta.

It is open to the public, free of charge, until the end of December. One may visit between Monday and Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm and on Saturdays from 8.30am to 12.30pm.

The exhibition catalogue and a sonnet written specifically for the occasion and printed on silk (limited edition of 100) are available for sale from the Reading Room.

Dumnikani fil-Palazz: Home & Temple

An exhibition at the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa tells of the special relationship between the palace and the neighbouring Dominican Order, especially in the post-war years.

Enemy war bombing in 1941 had left the Dominican community without a convent and a church, and they found temporary refuge beyond Vittoriosa. But they were called back by the need to fulfil their spiritual and educational mission among their people.

Eighty years ago, in August 1942, the Dominicans asked for temporary shelter at the Inquisitor’s Palace and, for almost two decades, the palace became the community’s home and temple.

The exhibition runs until January 8. The Inquisitor's Palace is open weekly from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 4.30pm.

Honor Frost’s Malta: A Pioneer in the Centre of the Mediterranean

An exhibition highlighting underwater archaeologist Honor Frost’s connection to Malta is open at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

Besides honouring Frost’s considerable legacy, the exhibition aims to offer a snapshot of Frost’s work in Malta through illustrations, artefacts and even some of her diving equipment.

The exhibition runs until January 15. Entrance is free of charge. One may visit the museum daily from 9am to 4.30pm. 

whatson@timesofmalta.com