Muti brings new level of harmony to St John's

The jewel that is St John's Co-Cathedral, in Valletta, was even more resplendent yesterday as Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and Porpora's Salve Regina, under the baton of world-famous conductor Riccardo Muti, flowed down its aisles to the delight of almost 1,000 guests.

Apart from being unique, St John's was considered to be the ideal venue for the concert by Mro Muti's Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini to the voices of renowned soprano Barbara Frittoli and mezzo-soprano Monica Bacelli.

"There were all the components, including the venue, conductor, choice of music, and top soloists, to ensure that it could not get any better," Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said.

The concert, described by the minister as "the cherry on the cake", culturally and artistically, of an eventful year, marked the end of a week-long seminar by Mro Muti, in the run-up to the opening of the Mediterranean Music Academy next year.

His stay in Malta was punctuated by the concert version of Donizetti's Don Pasquale, including the Coro del Teatro Municipale di Piacenza and five soloists, at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, in Valletta, on Sunday.

Foreign coverage of the maestro's presence in Malta, where he held the Seminar on Italian Opera for foreign and local participants, has extended to Al Jazeera, while Italian and Austrian journalists have also covered the events of the week.

Mro Muti had visited the "marvellous" St John's Co-Cathedral twice, including when he was in Malta last year to discuss the setting up of the academy of which he is honorary president. He had spent a while in solitude under the Caravaggio painting and emerged besotted, singing its praises.

"At that point, it was not in my mind in a concrete sense to conduct a concert in the co-cathedral. But when I entered it, I felt it would be beautiful to make music in it. It has such an incredible harmony; symbolically, it gathers together the whole of Europe," Mro Muti had said.