Tenor Alan Sciberras accompanied by pianist, organist and conductor Alexei Galea Cavallazzi wowed the audience at a concert at Sala Isouard at the Manoel Theatre in Valletta last Wednesday.

The concert featured works by Puccini, Bizet, Ponchielli, Massanet and others.

Introducing the concert, Albert Storace a music critic and an opera buff who has travelled extensively to feed his passion for music and history described Sciberras’s fine voice.

“He is the most exciting discovery as a new tenor voice in Malta since the emergence of Joseph Calleja”, Storace said.

Tenor Sciberras was accompanied by Pianist Alexei Galea Cavallazzi. Photo Daniela Peresso

The programme consisted of eight opera arias and classical songs for tenor which Sciberras performed with great passion, beauty and control.

His mellifluous, rich and powerful voice filled the room stirring the audience and leading them on a musical journey filled with emotions.

“In opera, especially when it is dramatic and it ends tragically, there is rarely a dry eye,” Storace told the audience.

Indeed, audience members were visibly moved by the tenor’s performance.

In Massanet’s ‘Pouquoi me Réveiller’, Sciberras’s convincing performance was at once powerful, beckoning and seeming to cry out while soft and introspective leading us to see what was in the protagonist’s mind at other times.

Singing ‘Musica Proibita’, a well-loved Italian classical song by Stanislao Gastaldon, the tenor, sang beautifully about the wishful yearning of youth moving the concertgoers.

Sciberras’s performance is becoming more and more confident, and his charisma and vocal richness and power made for a compelling concert.

Adding to the enjoyment of the musical pieces was the informative and entertaining introduction of the songs in pairs by Albert Storace allowing the tenor and accompanist a brief rest.

“It gave me the context to arias I have enjoyed for so long but did not necessarily know the story of, nor did I know what led to their composition. It made the concert even more enjoyable” said one of the concertgoers.

Albert Storace, music critic, introducing the concert.

The recently redecorated hall, Sala Isouard, provided an intimate setting for such a concert, having the warmth and elegance of a drawing room suited to the narratives sung beautifully by the tenor.

The room was packed, for this concert, the third in a series organised by Galea Cavallazzi, the musical director at MCC behind the collaboration between the MCC and the Manoel Theatre.

The audience was a mix of the usual classical music lovers who regularly attend local concerts, some people who have recently settled in Malta exploring the cultural scene, friends and family of the tenor and some music students.

Sciberras has a growing following, with some audience members keenly seeking out his performances.

One said that she has been following the tenor’s performances and development since she saw him perform a few years ago.

As the haunting final song by Tosti ended, there was a rupture of applause and shouts for an encore and the tenor sang ‘O Sole Mio’ inviting the audience to join in. 

Some did sing along, but their voices quickly faded as they preferred to listen intently to Sciberras. 

A second enthusiastic round of applause led the tenor to sing ‘Nessun Dorma’ from the opera Turandot closing the concert beautifully.