Month-long Gaulitana Festival kicks off next week
Events take place all across Gozo
The Gaulitana Festival begins next weekend, heralding a month-long programme of music events and entertainment across Gozo. Esther Lafferty talks to the festival’s founder and artistic director, COLIN ATTARD, to hear more.
The Gaulitana Festival is due to kick off on March 23, with an eclectic programme lasting until April 21, featuring among its many events the opera La Bohème to celebrate Giacomo Puccini’s 100th death anniversary.
“The festival’s opening concert on the 23rd is a microcosm of the whole festival – inviting audiences to immerse themselves in a musical experience,” says Colin Attard, the festival’s founder and artistic director.
Featuring the Gaulitanus Choir, the festival’s organiser, the Gaulitanus String Orchestra, acclaimed Maltese soprano Gillian Zammit, known for her velvety singing voice, and Gozitan Pierre Louis Attard on the viola, this opening event will serve as a sacred concert for the beginning of Holy Week.
A mix of vocal and instrumental numbers, it ranges from the 18th century to the present, and also presents two excerpts by Puccini, including his six-minute Requiem.
“This year, we are commemorating the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death,” Attard continues, explaining that, as their 2024 opera, they have chosen his international favourite La Bohème.
The opera is a love story between a poet, Rodolfo, and a seamstress, Mimì, as they face the hardships of life in Paris during the 1830s and the challenges of her declining health.
Colin Attard leading the Gaulitanus String Orchestra in Gaulitana. Photo: Lorne Cremona“Mimì will be interpreted by Italian soprano Federica Vitali, the ‘truly impressive singing actress’ who mesmerised as Madama Butterfly in Gozo last October. Alongside, Maltese soprano Nicola Said is playing the leading lady’s best friend Musetta, and it is great to have home-grown talent in the other female role,” he says.
“Although it will be a traditional production in a historical setting, the themes of love and hardship, sickness and sacrifice are relevant today. It’s the tale of young people, of inspired youths and of life – even when it fades. This, and the eloquent melodious music, account for La Bohème’s timeless charm.”
Stage-directed by Enrico Castiglione, the opera features the Gaulitanus Choir and Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, with a pre-opera talk by music critic Albert Storace and Luigi Viani, from the Fondazione Giacomo Puccini in Lucca, Italy.
Viani and Gaulitanus Choir President Joseph Calleja are also curating an exhibition in the theatre of printed and archival material to celebrate Puccini’s life and works. In parallel, a multimedia presentation on operas at Gaulitana runs at Kempinski San Lawrenz.
The festival includes much more too, including a flute and organ recital on Palm Sunday (March 24) in Victoria’s Seminary Chapel.
“Our festival artist-in-residence, Alexander Frey, a US organist-pianist-conductor, will be accompanying Maltese flutist Fiorella Camilleri on the chapel’s very particular organ,” explains Attard.
The festival’s opening concert is a microcosm of the whole festival
“It’s perfect for the baroque repertoire being performed in an intimate venue like this. Our other organ event on March 25 in the majestic Xewkija Rotunda features the grand instrument installed in recent years, creating a rich, deep and dramatic sound. It will be interesting to compare the two. With a ‘cameo’ role, we have Gozitan euphonium player George Camilleri joining Frey in the rotunda.”
Attard says there’s a great tradition of brass and wind playing in Gozo, and it’s brilliant for youngsters to have the opportunity to learn and play instruments, mainly at local band clubs.
Gaulitana’s intensive education programme, GAULearn, encourages youngsters to appreciate, enjoy and play music, or sing and, as part of this initiative, Frey will also be holding sessions for schoolchildren to introduce them to the organ.
Just as Gaulitana take events to schools, festival events also take place in venues across Gozo, with recitals at, for example, the Kempinski San Lawrenz Hotel, and in churches in Għarb, Xagħra and elsewhere.
Ta’ Ċenċ Hotel’s piano bar, a new venue, is hosting an informal lecture-recital on American composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. In armchairs with a drink, the audience can listen to Frey both on the piano and telling tales of Sondheim’s life and contribution to 20th-century musical theatre, from Sweeney Todd to West Side Story.
A scene from last year’s La Traviata at Gaulitana. Photo: Anthony GrechThe festival also prides itself on its international flavour. A Romanian mezzo-soprano accompanied by an Italian pianist aptly performs a repertoire of well-known sacred music on Easter Saturday, including the Liber scriptus from Verdi’s Requiem and, more unexpectedly, a cappella Romanian chants from the liturgy of the Orthodox Church, never before performed on Gozo.
Then, as Easter Sunday brings joy, a celebratory concert by the same performers will include both very popular operatic arias and interludes, Romanian songs and a touch of Spanish rhythms.
After Easter, look out too for the Kazakhstan State Trio from performing classical piano trios, including Beethoven’s Op 11 chamber music and some local excerpts; Pierre Louis Attard on the violin, as he performs with Gozo-based Serbian pianist Milica Laurence; a Polish/Austrian-Luxembourger pair performing side-by-side on the same piano; an Austrian flute and piano duo; and an Italian father-and-daughter violin and piano duo.
To add to the variety, for foot-tapping guitar enthusiasts, an Italian duo will bring classic Latin music to Għajnsielem; and in an event at the Don Bosco Oratory, a Chinese artist in traditional costume will play the pipa (a pear-shaped string instrument played by plucking). Alongside the Eastern musical idioms, expect some surprises with a Gozitan twist.
The Opera+Weekend concludes the festival. It includes a solo recital by a leading Bulgarian cellist, a delight for string aficionados, and the finale by the Gaulitanus String Orchestra.
“We hope to round up the festival’s 17th edition in style,” says a smiling Attard.
Gaulitana: A Festival of Music is principally supported by the Investment in Cultural Organisations – Gozo of Arts Council Malta and the Ministry for Gozo. For more information, visit gaulitanus.com.