One of Malta’s most eminent opera researchers, at least during the second half of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st, was definitely Emy Scicluna – a man who, with his research and articles on local newspapers, shed extensive light on the long operatic tradition in the Maltese islands.

Scicluna died on March 17 of this year aged 87 and will certainly be remembered well into the future for his great contributions to the field of opera.

I had come to know Scicluna by accident when, in the mid-nineties, I contacted him to write an article for an Aurora Opera House publication.

At the time, I was reading for a bachelor’s degree in music at the University of Malta, so I took the opportunity to discuss the subject I chose for my dissertation – Puccini’s opera Turandot. He immediately assured me that he would be providing me with information, including material about its productions in the Maltese islands.

He even promised to give me a scanned copy of the prima of Turandot at the Royal Opera House, Valletta, in 1927. He not only kept his promise but, years later, he even handed me the original. 

For Scicluna, the operatic productions in both opera houses in Gozo were a sine qua non. He used to tell me that, thanks to Gozo and its opera houses, the operatic vacuum created by the destruction of the Royal Opera House in Valletta during World War II was somehow made good for.

He would call me several months ahead to book a hotel for him and his wife Anna Maria k/a Anna (née Bisazza) during opera season. During these years, I also became close to his wife Anna − a concert pianist and soprano as well as one of Malta’s best music teachers. Both Scicluna and his wife were my point of reference during my musical career.

Scicluna’s life and contributions

Emy (Emmanuel Michael) was born in Birkirkara on January 1, 1936, in a rather musical family. His father, Carmelo, was a band master of several bands in Malta while his mother Edoarda née Sammut was a midwife.

When he was young, he wanted to become an actor, but music was always present at his home and from a very young age he used to accompany his father during band rehearsals and concerts. 

Moreover, he grew up on the Italian Martini & Rossi radio broadcasts on Monday evenings that let him become familiar with operatic repertoire and the voices of the great interpreters. He also used to listen to the great Caruso on the old gramophone his family had in their house.

In 1956, Scicluna joined the Malta Civil Services as a clerk-typist and later he occupied several positions at the Office of the Prime Minister, working with four different prime ministers. In 1968, he was appointed secretary of the Malta Arts Council set up by the government.

During the late 1960s, Scicluna joined the Rediffusion as an outside contributor and for fifteen years took part in various programmes.

He produced his weekly programme Ribalta Operistika covering aspects of opera including productions at famous opera houses, record reviews and interviews with famous singers such as Boris Christoff, Nicola Rossi Lemeni, Virginia Zeani, Aldo Protti, Giuseppe di Stefano and Giulietta Simionato.

Together with his greatest friend Oreste Kirkop, he even interviewed some of the best Maltese opera singers of the past generation such as Giuseppe Satariano, Arturo Galea, Joseph Zammit Harrison, Paul Scerri, Harry Cachia, Aida Sammut and Bice Ciappara.

Another programme worth mentioning was Il-Kollezjonista tad-Diski, which consisted of a discussion programme with local personalities such as Rev. Edward Borg Olivier, brother of former prime minister Giorgio, and Erin Serracino-Inglott – both ardent collectors.  In 1973, Scicluna produced a one-hour radio feature to mark the 50th Anniversary of L-Innu Malti launching the recording of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan playing the national anthem and interviews with Guzè Cardona and Mro Carmelo Pace.

In 1979, he wrote a 40-minute radio programme Portrait of an Eminent Performing Artist on the career of Maltese tenor Kirkop which was presented as Xandir Malta’s entry in the International Radio Competition sponsored by Radio Hungary. This was chosen among the eight winning entries out of twenty-two stations that included contributions by RAI and BBC.

It is thanks to Scicluna that nowadays we know about the lives and careers of a number of past Maltese singers

In 1983, Scicluna worked at EMI Studios, Abbey Road on the release of Kirkop’s LP album Oreste in Opera and Song issued two years later. In September that year, he proceeded to Italy on a one-month Italian government scholarship. The course, organised by Rai, was entitled La preparazione delle scenegiature e sulle techniche di produzione nelle transmisioni di musica classica e opertistica.

In 1987, Scicluna was invited by the International Ocean Institute, Foundation for International Studies, and the Malta Oceanographic Commission to organise the Pacem in Maribus Concert held at Palazzo Vilhena, Mdina on September 9 under the patronage of then prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami and foreign personalities in connection with the Pacem in Maribus Conference to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Malta’s initiative in the United Nations on the peaceful uses of the seabed.

Between 1991 and 1993, Scicluna produced and presented weekly radio programmes Proscenium (operatic music) and Rostrum (classical music).

In 1994, Scicluna organised a Malta cultural evening in Munich to coincide with Maltese soprano Miriam Gauci’s appearance at the Munich Opera House in Madama Butterfly attended by personalities from the Ministry of Culture of Malta and Germany.

Between 1992 and 1996, Scicluna was manager at the cultural affairs department within the Ministry of Youth and the Arts. During these years, he represented the Ministry of Culture in music seminars abroad and visited various music festivals including Edinburgh, Palermo, Prague Spring, Brno Autumn and Copenhagen to engage celebrity performers to take part in the Malta International Arts Festival of which he was director. In 1996, he was appointed general manager at the Manoel Theatre whereas between 1999 and 2009 he served as board member of the National Orchestra of Malta.

During these years, he was also responsible with writing the programme notes for many concerts organised by the National Orchestra and also to make contacts and eventually engage renowned international artists.

He was also the writer of a series of articles for The Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta entitled Opera in Retrospect arousing much interest among the opera loving public. Other contributions included articles on ballet, classical music, well known performers (including also Maltese) and also about opera recordings.

He received the Malta Broadcasting Authority Programme Award for radio cultural programmes in 2000.

Scicluna passed away peacefully on March 17 of this year late in the morning aged 87.

He will surely be remembered by many for his great contribution in the research of the history of opera in Malta and for his informative and well-researched radio programmes.

Arguably, it is thanks to him that nowadays we know about the lives and careers of a number of past Maltese singers.

His thorough research even led him to write to David Cummings, editor of The New Everyman Dictionary of Music, to point out that the third “revised” edition of the Loewenberg Annals of Opera 1597-1940 was “full of inaccurate dates in so far as Malta performances were concerned”.  But to me, apart from all this, Scicluna was a dear friend, a mentor and a point of reference.

Before he died, he had one wish – that his unique and priceless collection about the Royal Opera including a handwritten register of the opera house, numerous libretti di sala, signed photos of singers and posters will be accessible to all those interested in our musical heritage.

I really feel honoured and privileged not only to have known Scicluna but also because he considered me one of his very closest friends.