This year’s edition of the Malta Arts Festival is providing a spring-board for new performers through the Emerging Artists Series. Martina Portelli finds out more from violin and piano duo Jean Noël Attard and Joanne Camilleri.
This year’s edition of the Malta Arts Festival will include the Emerging Artists Series, specifically conceived to simultaneously encourage and promote the participation of up-and-coming artists in the festival.
It was the channel through which I felt I could communicate best
Violinist Jean Noël Attard and pianist Joanne Camilleri are two such musicians who will be collaborating on a recital during the Malta Arts Festival.
“I started piano lessons at a very young age and I always remember my music studies as being a very important part of my daily schedule,” Camilleri says. As she grew older, music became even more significant to her as it enabled her to communicate using a different medium that had no language barriers.
“I came to realise that it was the channel through which I felt I could communicate best; this is what I truly wanted to do with my life.”
Attard’s experience with music also started early on in life, which he attributes to being born into a musical family. “I was never forced to start musical tuition though,” he says, adding that he made the decision to take up the violin aged five after having seen a violinist in a newspaper.
Both Camilleri and Attard have pursued academic studies in music overseas, a step that they both consider as being fundamental to their development as musicians. Attard is currently reading for an undergraduate music degree at Edinburgh Napier University as an Ian Tomlin scholar, while Camilleri is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, from where she obtained a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music – all with Distinction.
“It felt like it was the most natural path to take,” says Camilleri.
Attard finds a double benefit to the decision to pursue musical studies abroad.
“It helped me mature as a performer, but it also helped me from a holistic approach. That is what is so fascinating about music; I find that it actually makes you a better person.”
Attard describes their upcoming programme as “an interesting mix of works”, which will incorporate both solo pieces for piano and violin as well as pieces where they will accompany each other.
The bill will include works by Bach, Brahms, Piazzola and a more contemporary piece by Polish composer Lutoslawski, which is being performed in Malta for the first time.
Another bonus that will certainly go down well with the audience is the inclusion of a piece by Maltese composer Charles Camilleri; Due Canti – Cantilena and Arabesque for solo piano, which Joanne describes as “a very distinctive sound-world that is typically Mediterranean.”
Do they feel a certain responsibility to include Maltese works in events like this? Camilleri and Attard agree that Malta’s varied musical heritage should be promoted.
“The common misconception is that anything Maltese is somewhat inferior, notes Attard. “I strongly believe that as performers we do have a duty to prove such perceptions wrong.”
Excitement is currently running high for the duo. “The event gives us the necessary platform to showcase our potential and artistic talent on the same stage as other, more established acts,” Camilleri said.
Camilleri will continue reading for her Doctorate of Music in Performance at the University of Malta under the supervision of Michael Laus.
Attard will also be furthering his music studies by embarking on a Masters at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
This is the first time that the two will be performing together, but they are both keen on the idea on teaming up again in future.
The Piano and Violin recital will take place in the Music Room at St James Cavalier, Valletta, on Saturday at 11 a.m. Entrance is free but strictly to ticket holders only. For more information visit www.maltaartsfestival.org.