Gaulitanus Choir’s hybrid 15th edition of Gaulitana: A Festival of Music will be brought to an end this month with Viva l’Opera – a three-part virtual operatic cinematic series.
The series will be streamed for free on the Gaulitana: A Festival of Music Facebook page and YouTube channel on three consecutive Tuesdays in January – namely January 17, 24 and 31 – at 7pm.
The shows will remain available on the organisation’s digital platforms thereafter.
Viva l’Opera presents scenes from three Italian operas: Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci, Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore.
Three Gozitan sites will be used to stage the three scenes: the Gozo Seminary for I Pagliacci, Fort Chambray for Il Trovatore and Ta’ Kola Windmill for L’Elisir d’Amore.
The series will be streamed for free on the Gaulitana: A Festival of Music Facebook page and YouTube channel
The series will be set up with the full collaboration of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the backing of the Malta Tourism Authority, the Italian Cultural Institute and Bank of Valletta.
The creative team responsible for filming is led by director Denise Mulholland and director of photography Matthew Muscat Drago, this time joined by set artist Michael Carol Bartolo with James Debono in charge of the costumes.
Soprano Gillian Zammit teams up with baritone Louis Andrew Cassar for the Leoncavallo scene and Soprano Andriana Yordanova is supported by soprano Stephanie Portelli in the Verdi opera, which also prominently features mezzo-soprano Graziella DeBattista. Meanwhile, soprano Nicola Said and tenor Cliff Zammit Stevens appear in the Donizetti favourite.
Gaulitana: A Festival of Music, organised by the Gaulitanus Choir, is an awardee of the European Festivals Association’s EFFE label and principally supported by the Investment in Cultural Organisations – Gozo of Arts Council Malta and the Ministry for Gozo. Visit gaulitanus.com/gaulitana-festival for more information.