Malta misses great musical opportunity

The question put by Dr Mario Tabone-Vassallo ("Does the country really want a National Orchestra", The Sunday Times, October 24) poses more questions. Does he mean the whole population of Malta? If so, the answer is probably no. But then, classical music is not appreciated by the majority of people of any country. It is, however, appreciated by those relatively few who make the decisions that affect whole nations. The National Orchestra can be seen, therefore, as a leading light for any country that wishes to be recognised as cultured.

Culture is the current buzz-word in Maltese circles, now that they have discovered the Cottonera, following the foreigners' lead in acquiring property there. Culture tourism is the new aim of the government, having unfortunately promoted mass tourism for so long that the infrastructure has buckled under the weight of numbers. But the historic buildings that form the main attraction for tourists are the culture of 400 years ago and the Knights of Malta, and no reflection of those running the country now.

So culture comes from the people, and that comes from the arts. So music is a strong indicator of the culture of the people. If the government of Malta wishes to promote culture tourism as is its claim, then it must give more support to its national orchestra.

The annual wage bill for the National Orchestra is less than the government spent on the fireworks display for the EU accession celebrations in Grand Harbour on April 30. That is absurd. The government does not even pay the whole running expense.

Even more absurd is paying a foreign orchestra and singers Lm95,000 for one concert in St John's Co-Cathedral. The audience in a full cathedral numbers around 600. That works out at a cost of around Lm158 per person in the audience.

The recorded sound being so bad that no foreign television station would broadcast it and pay for the doubtful privilege, means that such money was totally wasted in terms of promoting a Maltese cultural event. The National Orchestra played superbly for the 40th anniversary of independence in the marvellous acoustics of the courtyard of the Grand Masters' Palace.

In my eyes, the resignation of Dr Tabone-Vassallo is a disaster for the orchestra. When filming in Moscow last December, I had met Ivry Gitlis (see also page 68) giving a master class at the world-famous Conservatory. He is one of the most illustrious violinists of his generation, and I invited him to come to Malta to give a concert with the National Orchestra. He accepted, and on July 27 I had my first contact with Dr Tabone-Vassallo about the possibility of such a concert.

It was to be a gala event with Mr Gitlis, living in Paris, bringing several young leading international soloists from Moscow, Brussels, London and Munich. Mro Laus had shown appreciation of the benefits of Mr Gitlis conducting the National Orchestra and imparting his vast knowledge during the week-long rehearsals and the concert, set for November 6. The orchestra members showed great enthusiasm.

After hours of meetings and telephone calls, and 26 e-mails, all was set for the concert, which was to take place at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. I brought Mr Gitlis to Malta for a weekend so that he could take in the atmosphere. We had arranged for the concert to be filmed for broadcasts around Europe, which his presence would ensure. We conducted and filmed an interview, as the basis for the event, so Malta would be featured in depth on three hours of total programming. So far, so good.

Then came Dr Tabone-Vassallo's resignation, and I had to meet the new board's leaders, new chairman Lino Attard, and Emy Scicluna, on October 12. I was shocked to hear them claim they knew nothing of the proposal details, despite the fact that the orchestra's management had put out a press release about it on September 19, when they were both members of the board. Where were they?

After frenzied telephone calls, they proposed that the concert be postponed. I informed them that everything was arranged - the artists, flights, accommodation, and even the Mediterranean Conference Centre had been booked by the National Orchestra. The rehearsals had been scheduled for the orchestra. All that was needed was for me to know the costs for the MCC hire, which I was to pay for, and confirmation of the royalties which the orchestra would receive from the various programmes to be made from the filming. I was also to pay all the costs for the soloists.

We did not even get around to the question of royalties. Mr Attard, despite having the discounted costs for the concert hall in front of him, and despite me asking him four times, refused to tell me how much those costs were. How, pray, was I to pay for the hire if the amount was confidential information? No answer.

Mr Scicluna insisted that he should have the costs for the orchestra in writing. I told him (also four times) that there were no costs, and that as a consequence there was nothing to write down. Still he insisted. They refused to supply the orchestra although this had been agreed with Dr Tabone-Vassallo, and said they wanted the concert to be postponed. There was less than two weeks to go before the arrival of the soloists, who had left the week clear of other bookings.

I wrote to the chairman on that day informing him of my decision to cancel the event. It will be a great loss to Malta both from a cultural point of view and for tourism. The minister for both had apparently offered just Lm1,000 towards the costs of holding the event. The benefits were obviously lost on him, and the board of the National Orchestra, which stood to make thousands of pounds from the concert and recordings.

The previous chairman was very excited at the opportunities for the orchestra which this event would have opened, and told me he wished to consider this as the first of a series of collaborations. Ivry Gitlis is Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO, and had already indicated that he would like to bring a violin festival to Malta next year, such as the one he has just fronted in Cassis in France. All great publicity for the islands.

So whether it wants a national orchestra or not, Malta does not deserve the dedication that the musicians of the orchestra give it. The musicians certainly do not deserve the board members it now has to deal with. The board had lost not only one of the greatest concerts for Malta with a galaxy of international artists, but now has absolutely no concerts fixed for November. That is not the fault of the musicians, and the GWU is right to be concerned. A professional orchestra needs professional management to survive, not part-timers with dubious comprehension of what it takes to run it for the benefit of the country.

It had been agreed with Dr Tabone-Vassallo that Ivry Gitlis would play the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, which had gained him international acclaim. But the board wanted Ivry Gitlis to play another piece, as a Maltese violinist now wanted to play the Tchaikovsky concerto next year!

All the above projects will be rescheduled to go elsewhere, where they will be appreciated.