MUSIC

Eurovision Song Malta

The semi-final and the final night of Eurovision Song Malta contest are being held at the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre in Ta’ Qali on February 9 and 11 respectively.

The winner will represent Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 taking place between May 9 and 13 in Liverpool, the UK. 

Tickets are available on showshappening.com. The event will also be broadcast live on TVM.

Spanish Classical Guitar Concert

Classical guitarist Bernard Catania will present Spanish, Latin-American and contemporary guitar music during a recital at Our Lady of Victory church, Valletta, on February 7 at 12.30pm.

He will perform works by Antonio Lauro, Leo Brouwer, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Astor Piazzolla, Augustin Barrios, Joao Pernambuco, Gaspar Sanz and Isaac Albeniz, among others. He will also play Song of the Seas by local composer Gordon Mizzi.

After the concert, patrons are invited to the cellar of the church to watch a short audiovisual show about the building, its history and restoration.

The event forms part of the lunchtime concerts organised by Barocco Events in collaboration with Din l-Art Ħelwa. Entrance is at a suggested donation of €10. One can obtain the tickets prior to the concert from the venue itself or by e-mailing baroccomalta@gmail.com or calling 7968 0952.

AFM Band Concert for Charity

The JP2 Cultural Foundation, in collaboration with the Victoria local council, is holding a concert by the AFM Band in aid of Id-Dar tal-Providenza on February 9.

The event was scheduled to take place on January 5 but was postponed due to the national mourning for the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The AFM Band will be under the music direction of Captain Jonathan Borg. 

The concert starts at 7pm. Attendance is free of charge but donations will be collected for the Siġġiewi home. 

L’amour

The Fontana local council is hosting an entertaining romantic evening on February 9, in the run-up to Valentine’s Day.

It will feature a romantic comedy by the Clueless Comedy Collective, titled Tħobbni jew ma tħobbnix?, written and performed by Ed Vassallo, and romantic music by harpist Jacob Portelli.

The event is taking place at the Fontana local council community hall, from 7.30pm onwards. Entrance is free but reservations can be made on 7900 0348 or by e-mailing armar.fontana@gmail.com.

Romantic Tales

Internationally acclaimed conductor Anu Tali will lead the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert of romantic music taking place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta on February 11.

The programme includes Suite on Estonian Dances by Estonian composer, conductor and choreographer Eduard Tubin, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8.

The concert starts at 7.30pm. For tickets, visit showshappening.com.

A Lunchtime for Valentine’s

Gozo’s Gaulitanus Choir soprano soloists Anna Bonello, Stephanie Portelli and Annabelle Haber are teaming up with violinist Pierre Louis Attard to present a lunchtime concert with a difference, at the Ministry for Gozo’s Hall, Victoria, on February 11.

The repertoire consists of a variety of love-related pieces, including operatic, salon or chamber excerpts and numbers from musicals. Choir member Joanna Pullicino will also be reciting a few literary excerpts.

The concert, under the baton of Colin Attard, will start at 11.30am. Entrance is free.

Serbian band in concert

Serbian band Kanda Kodža i Nebojša will perform at the Tigullio Complex in St Julian’s on February 11. They will be supported by Music Playground, a collective of musicians working together to create a space where talented individuals of all levels and styles can come together.

Kanda Kodža i Nebojša will present their blend of funk, rock, reggae, jazz and more, accompanied by Oliver Nektarijević's vocals.

The event starts at 10pm. For tickets, visit showshappening.com.

Local Behaviour – a 10-hour art and music curation

A new concept featuring local electronic house music combined with a local art curation is kicking off at The Brewhouse, Mrieħel on February 11.

The event will see a new venue named The Grist opening as an art gallery, featuring various art pieces curated by Nick from Green Sixteen. Later in the night, the gallery will turn into an after-party dance hall.

Deejays performing between 3pm and 1am will be Ben Cartyr, Slick Steve, Macelli, Danny Vibe, Luca Cordina, NYRK and Pandu.

For tickets, click here.

In the Name of Love

The second edition of the concert featuring love-themed songs and acts is being held at Villa Fiorita in Marsalforn two days before Valentine’s, on February 12 at 7.30pm.

Singers Gabriella and Remy, accompanied by a trio of local musicians and actors, will be taking part.

The concert is organised by Ewfonija and BETA Entertainment Theatre Academy.

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THEATRE

Moħħok hemm għax dieħel... l-ajruplan

A new Maltese translation of the classic comedy play Boeing Boeing is being held at the Manoel Theatre, in Valletta between February 10 and 12.

Moħħok hemm għax dieħel... l-ajruplan, directed by Salvu Mallia, has been translated and adapted into Maltese by John Suda and Mario Micallef and stars Ron Briffa, Marceline Galea, Alison Abela, Tezara Saliba, Soraya Queen and Micallef.

The comedy, suitable for an audience aged over 12, is being staged on February 10 and 11 at 8pm and on February 12 at 7pm. Tickets are available online at www.teatrumanoel.mt, via e-mail to bookings@teatrumanoel.mt or by phone on 2124 6389.

Caught in the Act

A one-act romantic comedy Caught in the Act by Bruce Kane is being staged in Pjazza Taż-Żjara tal-Madonna, Għarb, on February 11 at 7.30pm.

The play will be directed by Jamie Camilleri. The event is free but booking is recommended on https://bit.ly/inthenameoflove2023.

Following the play, the Malta Eurovision Song Final will be projected onto a big screen.

In Other Words

The Shrinking Violets theatre collective is again presenting Matthew Seager’s play In Other Words at Theatre Next Door, in Magħtab, between February 10 and 12 at 8pm.

Connected by the music of Frank Sinatra, the play follows a couple on an intimate, humorous and deeply moving journey in and out of their memories of married life, exploring the cruelty of Alzheimer’s disease and the transformative power of music.

Denise Mulholland and Jes Camilleri star as the protagonists Jane and Arthur in this production directed by Chiara Hyzler and supported by Arts Council Malta.

For tickets, visit https://tnd.com.mt/whats-on/in-other-words.

ARTS

Rabat Agape Festival

Fondazzjoni Paulus is presenting the 10th edition of its annual arts and culture event Rabat Agape Festival, which celebrates the feasts of the Conversion and Shipwreck of St Paul and promotes the artistic heritage of the Maltese islands. 

The festival continues on February 11 with a lecture titled ‘The History of Rabat through Photography’, which will be delivered by photographer Daniel Cilia at the Wignacourt Museum, in Rabat, at 6.30pm. 

The festival will come to a close on February 12 at 2pm with a guided walk around various places of interest in the Rabat countryside. This walk, organised with BirdLife Malta, starts from St Paul’s parish square, in Rabat at 2pm.  Those interested may fill in the form available here.

The festival runs until February 12. For more information, visit the foundation's Facebook page and click here.

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FILM

Tnejn għat-Talkies

The retro film night series hosted by the Embassy Cinemas in Valletta continues tomorrow, February 6, with Woody Allen’s 1979 film Manhattan.

The comedy follows how the life of a divorced television writer (Allen) dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend’s mistress.

The initiative forms part of the Strada Stretta programme, held under the auspices of the Valletta Cultural Agency (VCA).

For tickets, click here.

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MISCELLANEOUS

San Pawl Milqi special opening

On February 10, the public holiday commemorating St Paul’s shipwreck on the Maltese islands, the archaeological site of San Pawl Milqi, in Burmarrad will be open at a reduced admission fee.

Tickets will be available only at the door and the event is free for children and Heritage Malta members. Heritage Malta passports are not applicable.

The event will be held between 10am and 4pm.

Malta Café Scientifique

The next Malta Café Scientifique event on February 8 will tackle how 3D printing can become more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Albert Curmi from the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta will talk about his research on 3D printing, which focuses on pellets, which are the components of the filaments used by most 3D printers for printing.

The event is taking place at Studio B (music room) at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta at 7pm.

For more information, check out the Malta Café Scientifique Facebook page and webpage. 

Malta  Café  Scientifique  is supported by  the  STEAM  project, Spazju Kreattiv, the University of Malta and Malta Chamber of Scientists (of which the café forms part).

Made with Love

Villa Rundle Gardens, in Victoria, is hosting an artisan fair in the run-up to Valentine’s Day this weekend and on February 10, 11 and 12 between 10am and 6pm. There is a vast assortment of goods for sale, including crafts, personal care products, art and local handmade food products.

On February 12,  the gardens are also hosting a day of activities titled Qalb il-Fantasija. Among others, there will be free rides for children and shows for all the family. Entrance is free.

Nadur organised carnival

Nadur’s organised carnival will take place on February 12 at St Peter and St Paul’s Square with a fun programme featuring small and big floats, costumes, dancers in costume, hilarious sketches, children’s dances, bands, and more. The event starts at 12.30pm.

The locality’s popular spontaneous carnival will take place during the official carnival days, that is between February 17 and 21.

Minjatura ‒ Malta Scale Model Expo

IPMS Malta – The Society for Scale Modellers is holding the 41st edition of its annual scale model exhibition at the Malta Maritime Museum on the Vittoriosa waterfront between February 10 and 12.

On show will be models in various scales of aircraft, civilian and military vehicles, historical, sci-fi and fantasy figures, dioramas and ships. There will also be demonstrations in model building.

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

VISUAL ARTS

Amygdala

Blitz is hosting an exhibition by Kim Sammut and curated by Sara Dolfi Agostini until February 9.

Sammut is the recipient of Blitz Valletta's competitive open call for a Malta-based emerging artist launched in 2022. As the chosen artist, she was granted the opportunity to present a new project produced and exhibited by Blitz.

This initiative is intended to give the successful applicant a curated platform to express themselves, an occasion to work one-to-one with an international curator on a new commission and improve their professional skills while promoting their artistic practice, while Blitz acts as a host institution, a mentor and partner.

The exhibition, supported by Arts Council Malta, is open at Blitz, 68, St Lucia Street, Valletta, from Wednesday to Friday from 2 to 5pm and on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm. It is closed from Sunday to Tuesday.

For more information, visit the gallery's Facebook page or https://blitzvalletta.com/. 

C'est la vie

Ceramist Joseph Agius is exhibiting a series of works focusing on various aspects of life at Il-Kamra ta' Fuq in Mqabba.

The exhibition title is meant as a tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic comment to highlight the alienation that we are surrounded with and the ‘laissez-faire’ way of life that we are so used to live in.

The theme focuses on various rules, attitudes and different social ‘traditions’, along with serious social issues, including migration, poverty, genocide and injustice.

The exhibition runs until February 12. For opening hours and more details, click here.

Also read this Times of Malta review.

Crux

Artist Tina Mifsud is presenting five recent paintings at a site-specific installation in 2, Sqaq Vitorja, Birkirkara.

The installation, curated by Andrew Borg Wirth, will open on Saturday and run  until February 18. Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday 6pm to 9pm and on Sundays from 10am to 1pm. 

The venue is only accessible for pedestrians, and all cars need to be parked around Triq Tumas Fenech, close to St Helen's basilica.

Experiments in Entropy

The second law of thermodynamics states that as energy is transformed, it incrementally dissipates and tends towards loss, decay and waste. This is the process of entropy; a process of mutual construction and demolition. It applies to societies and to systems, as it does to the natural environment, and has generated curiosity since its peak in art production in the 1960s.

Ten architects, who collectively started architecture school a decade ago, have been asked to investigate trajectories of this narrative in their daily grind and the result is on show at the Valletta Contemporary until February 18. It is curated by Andrew Borg Wirth.

The gallery in East Street, Valletta, is open from Wednesdays to Saturdays from 2 to 7pm. It is closed between Sundays and Tuesdays. Look up the Valletta Contemporary Facebook page for more information. Also read this Times of Malta feature.

Anamnesis

Artist Clint Calleja is presenting an introspective exhibition consisting of paintings, sculptures, photography and installations revolving around the theme of ‘trauma and memory’.

Curated by Kenneth Cassar, this exhibition purports to be an intimate confession through four life-changing tragic chapters that have marked the artist and his family in a short period of time.

The exhibition, supported by Arts Council Malta, runs till February 26. For more information, visit kreattivita.org.

Anthological Art Exhibition

A retrospective exhibition by artist Mario Zammit-Lewis is on display at the parliament building in Valletta until February 28.

The exhibition explores the various aspects of the artist’s oeuvre that is stylistically and thematically very eclectic. A monograph, published to accompany the exhibition, is available for purchase at the venue.

Zammit-Lewis, born to a Maltese father and an Italian mother, has exhibited extensively abroad. He is the recipient of a number of international awards that have celebrated his accomplishments along the years.

Opening hours are Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturdays and Sundays from 8 am till noon.

Fragments

Landscape artist Andew Borg is presenting his fourth solo exhibition, Fragments, at the Palm Court Lounge, at the Phoenicia in Floriana until February 28.

The exhibition, curated by Charlene Vella, features Sicilian landscapes as well Maltese ones, thus expressing the artist’s life of the last few months which has seen him living between the two Mediterranean islands.

The exhibition explores Borg’s current state of mind, one in which the Sicilian landscape is gaining the upper hand as he feels more attachment to the larger neighbour.

What'Chu Looking At? Who You Speaking With? A Gazing All Around

Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta is hosting a series of works by African creatives who explore the countless realities and situations that are present across the 54 countries making part of the continent of Africa.

The exhibition, commissioned by the creativity centre, runs till March 5. For more information, click here.

OTHER EXHIBITIONS

Carnival exhibition

Spazju Kreattiv, together with Festivals Malta, is once again organising a number of carnival-related activities at the creativity centre and in its surroundings.

The programme includes an exhibition of carnival costumes as well as the traditional Qarċilla, which has made a comeback in recent years.

The exhibition opens on February 2. Carnival will this year be held between February 17 and 21. 

Unseen and Unheard: Stories of Women Under Fire

The Storm Petrel Foundation is hosting an archival exhibition that sheds light on overlooked or previously unrecorded war narratives and microhistories from Malta and elsewhere.

It brings together items and artefacts drawn from different collections, with a primary focus on wartime experiences of women and girls.

The exhibition was inspired by a series of conversations between the NGO and Robert Attard, who had found a collection of letters written by a young German woman during World War II, some of which are on display.

The exhibition is organised across five different rooms at the Storm Petrel Foundation’s premises in Attard, with each room representing a different era or focus.

The Storm Petrel Foundation has collaborated with Simon Cusens, Kim Dalli, Sharp Shoot Media, Media Coop, Tayar Foundation for Jewish Heritage in Malta, Sarah Chircop and Giuliana Fenech, Heritage Malta, Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna and Palazzo Falson.

The exhibition runs until April 14. For opening hours and more information, visit the foundation's Facebook page.

Shoah the Holocaust: How Was It Humanly Possible?

The Tayar Foundation for Jewish Heritage in Malta has organised a Holocaust Memorial exhibition which will be displayed at three venues in Malta until June.

The exhibition deals with major historical aspects of the Holocaust, beginning with Jewish life in pre-Holocaust Europe and ending with the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps across the continent and the remarkable return to life of the survivors.

The display panels feature explanatory texts, with quotes from Jewish victims and survivors, photographs, art documents and videos for eight survivor stories.

The exhibition is open at the German-Maltese Circle in Valletta until March 12, opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 8am to 6pm; from March 13 to April 23 at MCAST Paola, opening hours Monday to Friday from 7am to 8pm and on Saturdays from 9am to 12.15pm (closed on Sundays); and from April 24 to June 4 at the University of Malta, Msida Campus, open from Monday to Friday from 7am to 11pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 4.45pm.

For more information, visit shoah.jewishheritagemalta.org/.

whatson@timesofmalta.com