My vision for the National Orchestra

From humble beginnings in 1968, when Joseph Sammut gathered musicians who formerly belonged to the Band of the Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet, and organised them to play together as an orchestra, which was then known as the Manoel Theatre Orchestra, followed by its dynamic development when Michael Laus took over as artistic director, the National Orchestra of Malta has become an institution that is doing the island proud.

I wish to pay tribute to past members serving on the board of directors, since the orchestra became an independent entity with its own Memorandum and Articles of Association in 1997, who in their own individuality strove, at great personal sacrifics, to inject life into the National Orchestra of Malta, as it became officially recognised thereafter.

Managing an orchestra is no mean feat. It is indeed an interesting challenge but with the collaboration of various players, the principal one being the Minister of Tourism and Culture and other visionary individuals who have the country's culture at heart, I am confident that we shall move towards new horizons.

The dynamic collaboration and vision of each individual forming part of the team that makes up the present board of directors, all of whom having been assigned different, but coordinated, areas of responsibility, augurs well. Since the Minister of Tourism and Culture entrusted us with this responsibility, the present board is taking stock of the situation. We had to take tough and maybe unpleasant decisions but that is part of the ongoing process that a change in leadership brings about. However, we have identified areas of prime importance in drafting our policies apart from tackling the situation of the orchestra's finances and other relevant factors.

This makes me confident that new pastures lie ahead of us and we now must look forward to deliver, to the best of our abilities and cooperation of the leading stakeholders, all that we believe in. The board of directors will indeed examine in depth how institutions can capitalise strategically on opportunities as they develop, opportunities that can alter the collaborative nature of communities in Malta and Gozo, and the role that cultural institutions can play in forcefully promoting a greater sense of community.

Reaching the young

In the past few years many orchestras world-wide have built fine educational programmes for children. We also have to reach out to the young generations, and discussions are at an advanced stage with the Manoel Theatre management, with whom we shall try to devise projects targeting government and private schools. We shall strive to build a society with a cultural soul and we will leave no stone unturned to achieve our aspirations for the good of the country.

The National Orchestra will build its institutional growth strategy principally around the concept of creating vibrant, strong linkages with each of the major cultural institutions in Malta: particularly in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture under whose portfolio fall the Arts Council, the Manoel Theatre, the Mediterranean Conference Centre and St James Cavalier, together with the University of Malta, local and foreign entrepreneurs seeking to enrich their high profile by availing themselves of the services that the National Orchestra can provide in various forms of collaboration and partnership.

What does the word "national" imply? Is the orchestra a "national" institution simply because of the name attributed to it? The orchestra has to be truly an institution that serves the nation in a professional manner and widen its horizons in a broader sense.

Like all orchestras world-wide, Malta's National Orchestra, out of necessity, will have to become a more complex institution extending its services beyond that of being just an orchestra playing at various venues, whether it is a symphony concert or an opera or at the concert being held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre on November 27, opening itself to an interesting and rewarding experience in the field of entertaining the younger generations.

The orchestra will become national in the true sense of the word by serving as a promoter/ambassador at creative and artistic levels that one expects from an institution of a high calibre by becoming the backbone of a Music Academy that Malta yearns for. It has to become the leading institution to lay, promote and develop structures that have been crying for realisation since time immemorial. This is where the National Orchestra, despite our size and limitations, has to go, and one cannot allow more time to pass to start the ball rolling in this direction.

One of the most positive and interesting projects that was already initiated was the creation of the Youth Orchestra. We have nourished this initiative and in our own motivation we developed it even further. Consequently we are now in the happy position of launching this orchestra officially.

The National Youth Orchestra is being re-created to provide an avenue for young players to have the opportunity to extend themselves musically, to explore music that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to realise, rehearse and perform, and to experience aspects of music making that might otherwise be closed to them, such as participating in concerts with the National Orchestra.

All this is still in the initial stages, and this area is one that the National Orchestra will develop further. I thank Mro Laus for his personal interest and dedication in this venture as well as all those fine musicians at the National Orchestra who backed up this initiative by presenting their best pupils and are themselves taking part in the set-up and running of the Youth Orchestra in their own free time.

This is indeed proof of the motivation of our musicians, for which they are to be highly commended. This motivation has been put to the test for a second time and the November 27 concert, when the National Orchestra will experimentally go pop, the organisation, promotion and entrepreneurship of the orchestra musicians under the leadership of Sigmund Mifsud is also in line with our vision to give the opportunity to the orchestra players to come forward with their own ideas, even involving them at board level, which significantly demonstrates our full backing and support.

I am all out to make the National Orchestra musicians work in harmony and hand in hand with the board to achieve the best results in a collective effort. It will be an interesting and rewarding experience from which the National Orchestra will undoubtedly benefit.

Revamped Website

There are of course matters relating to the fulfilment of objectives of the current cultural and arts policy as set forth by the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts in accordance with its three-year plan proposal for 2004-2006 with which the National Orchestra is totally in line. However, one must take a hard look at our existing structures and have the courage to change where change is really essential.

One area that certainly has to be looked into is the duplication of various functions by various bodies with the consequent waste of human resources and finances which one must cut down. This, undoubtedly, should be up for discussion between the policy-makers to address these areas, particularly in matters pertaining to finances which should be channelled to obtain the best results without waste of public money.

In line with our programme to promote the works of the National Orchestra, we have been revamping our Website to make it as attractive as possible, and to give one and all the opportunity to obtain the latest information on the orchestra's activities. In all fairness, this was also a project that was initiated before our taking the management of the orchestra in hand. We have made some adjustments and fine tuning of our own, its true, which will certainly have to develop and undergo changes in time to keep abreast of technological advancement.

We are now building our programme for the forthcoming year and intend to extend this to the next three years as of now. This will establish the National Orchestra in the calendar of events that is becoming more complex and interesting.

Here again, while working in close collaboration with the Manoel Theatre, where the National Orchestra should find its natural place in the monthly concert calendar, as well as working in close collaboration with the Mediterranean Conference Centre, the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Education, this calendar will enable us to market our "product" on the local and international market aiming to enhance Malta's image with the international community to attract "quality, cultural tourism".

Having a full programme of events involving local and foreign artists of international repute, working in close collaboration with foreign orchestras and theatre managements, will prove an effective marketing tool which high-profile institutions would not wish to miss to enhance their image. We have already generated reasonable interest from commercial entities in this direction.

One other aspect that we shall seek to develop is the recruitment of volunteers to become deeply involved in this institution and form a vital part of the governance and community-support structure. These artistically motivated volunteers can enjoy a close involvement with the orchestra and help maintain our commitment to quality and access to all our activities. They will help us in our vision to make great music available to the widest possible audience and contribute to its continued success and development.

Artistic talent abounds locally, and foreign artists that visit us and work with us in various cultural disciplines are amazed at the high level of commitment and at the artistic levels that Malta produces. One has only to look at the abundance of cultural activities our artists create, at great personal sacrifice and risk; all that work done by individuals and cultural entities who take initiatives of substance, all of which can be consolidated and used to advantage to boost our country's cultural heritage and sell Malta as a centre for creativity in various aspects of culture. All this without anyone losing identity, but consolidation at national level is a must.

So much can be achieved, and more, only if we work closely together, putting all our differences behind us and working for a common goal: to establish Malta with its unique cultural identity within the European Union, and the rest of the world for that matter, and further earn the respect of the international cultural community. The National Orchestra of Malta will work in this direction, and shall then be truly worthy of its name.

Mr Attard is chairman of the National Orchestra of Malta.