New Year's Eve celebrations
The Christmas in the City programme, organised by the Valletta Cultural Agency, comes to a peak tonight with the New Year’s Eve national celebrations in St George’s Square.
Kurt Calleja and his band will kickstart the event at 10pm, followed by the Brass House Unit led by Kevin Abela, together with some of Malta’s favourite singers including Brooke, Jasmine, Kevin Paul Calleja, Owen Luellen, Ludwig Galea, Ozzy Lino and Pawlu Borg Bonaci. DJ Drey will be closing the night.
More than 50,000 people are expected to attend the event.
Cottonera will host its own celebrations, featuring a float parade, fireworks and performances by SterjoTipi, The Crowns and DJ Davinia. Entrance is also free.
And Mellieħa, in collaboration with the Malta Tourism Authority and the Mellieħa local council, is presenting a fireworks display starting at midnight.
Gozo will also ring in the New Year with a free event at It-Tokk, in Victoria. Artists performing there include the Musea Orchestra, Jolene Samhan, Cash & Band, deejay JJoy and international artist and singer Inna. Entrance is also free.
For more information, click on the links above.
International artist Inna will be performing in Victoria tonight. Photo: Shutterstock.comCHRISTMAS ATTRACTIONS
Christmas villages and attractions
Triton Square, in Valletta, is hosting Fairyland − Santa’s City, featuring favourite attractions such as Rudolph’s Wheel, an ice-skating rink and a Christmas market. Santa’s City runs until January 6.
The Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali has turned into Santa’s World Malta until tomorrow, January 1. Activities include an elf school and cinema, Santa’s House, live shows and entertainment by Danusan.
Other Christmas villages are open at Popeye Village in Mellieħa (until January 8) and the Malta National Aquarium in Qawra (until January 8).
A jam-packed programme of activities is planned at the Valletta Waterfront, and at the Christmas Village Malta at the Ta' Xbiex Marina until January 6.
In Gozo, the Magro Brothers are hosting The Magro Christmas Family Fest at the Savina Artisan Centre, Xewkija, until today.
For more information, click on the links above.
A Christmas parade at Popeye Village. Photo: Facebook/Popeye VillageCribs
Mechanical crib in Żejtun
The mechanical crib at the Jesus of Nazareth Institute in Żejtun, which has been operating since 1947, will be open to the public again this year until January 8 from 9.30am to noon and from 4.30 to 7pm. There is also a bazaar in the adjacent hall during the same opening hours.
Il-Qala tissaħħar bil-presepji
A crib exhibition is being held at the Qala parish centre until January 8. It is open from Monday to Saturday from 5 to 7pm and on Sundays and public holidays from 10am to noon and from 5 to 9pm.
Għaqda Ħbieb tal-Presepju Għawdex-Malta 1985 exhibitions in Victoria
The Għaqda Ħbieb tal-Presepju Għawdex-Malta 1985 is holding two exhibitions for Christmas – a crib exhibition, mainly by children, at the Gozo Ministry in Victoria, until January 6 and a crib display by Gozitan and Maltese artists at St Augustine’s convent, also in Victoria, until January 8.
Cribs and more at Mosta cultural centre
The Razzett tal-Markiż Mallia Tabone is hosting the 24th edition of its Christmas exhibition, featuring various cribs and other Christmas-related artworks until tomorrow, January 1. Opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 5.30 to 8.30pm and Saturday and Sunday also from 9.30am to noon. Entrance is free.
A detail of a crib at the Mosta cultural centre. Photo: Facebook/Razzett tal-Markiż VISUAL ARTS
Artsy Christmas
Christmas-related artworks and more by a number of artists are on show at the Art by the Seaside gallery in Senglea until the end of the month.
The collective exhibition, as the name indicates, is linked to the Christmas season, having a wide range of hand-made arts, from candles, to jewellery to Christmas decorations and obviously wall hanging works.
Participating artists include Kevin Attard, Dave Calleja, David Debono, Rebecca Ranieri, Thomas Scerri and Kevin Sciberras, among many others.
Refer to the venue’s Facebook page for more information.
Don Heywood: Artist in Residence at the Phoenicia
Don Heywood, a distinguished British painter specialising in portraits and wildlife studies, is currently exhibiting at the Palm Court Lounge of the Phoenicia Hotel.
The artist is presenting paintings related to the seven important migratory birds that are found on the Maltese islands, these being the hawfinch, the goldfinch, the linnet, the greenfinch, the siskin, the serin and the chaffinch.
Also included in this exhibition are three large paintings of two endangered species of wild animals, the snow leopard and the polar bear.
The exhibition, curated by Louis Laganà, runs at Phoenicia Malta until tomorrow, January 1.
Gardell by Don HeywoodArt at the Corinthia Palace
The Corinthia Palace Hotel in Attard is hosting a collective exhibition of contemporary artworks by 13 local and international artists.
The paintings are from the Allura Art collection and range from landscapes and seascapes to florals and abstracts. They include new and previously unseen work.
The artists taking part are Andrew Borg, Christine Porter Lofaro, Jo Dounis, Kevin Sciberras, Debbie Bonello and Rosette Bonello from Malta and Christopher Saliba and Bob Cardona from Gozo. Foreign locals include British-Maltese painter Andrew Smith, Bulgarians Vania Goshe and Bogdan Dyulgerov, Natasha Dadush from Russia and Marianne Ogden from the US.
The exhibition runs until January 8. More information about the exhibition is available here.
'The tree is saying things, in words before words'
Catherine Cavallo, a contemporary painter who lives and works in Malta, is presenting her latest collection at Il-Kamra ta' Fuq in Mqabba.
Her work is rooted in observations of the everyday, and looks to both the pockets of serenity and the upheavals that life presents for her inspiration. This is evident in her evocative figure compositions which are influenced both by daily life and by current world situations.
The exhibition runs until January 8. For more information, visit the gallery's Facebook page. Also read this Times of Malta review.
I Landed. Malta
Spazju Kreattiv and the Marlands Project have collaborated on a new exhibition featuring works by French artists Edgar Sarin, Lucy Orta and Max Fouchy and Maltese counterpart Sheldon Saliba.
Guest artist Sarin explored the island during his art residency in Malta as part of the Marlands project. His immersive, multilayered art project is the result of productive dialogues with islanders specialising in craft, culture and science.
During this exhibition, one can also take a trip to other Mediterranean islands through the artists’ work: Orta will take visitors to the Balearic Islands, and Max Fouchy to Sicily.
I Landed. Malta is curated by Elena Posokhova and Vince Briffa.
After the exhibition closes on January 8, it will move on to Catania, Sicily; Palma, Mallorca; Nicosia, Cyprus and Mallorca, Spain. For more information, click here.
A visitor watching works on display at the I Landed Malta exhibition. Photo: Elisa von BrockdorffExpressions
An exhibition by Rachel Galea at Il-Ħaġar - Heart of Gozo Museum features 31 of her latest works inspired by Gozo’s landscape.
The exhibition runs until January 10. The museum is open daily from 9am to 5pm. Entrance is free.
For more information, click here.
Sights and sites
A new exhibition by Silvio John Camilleri at the King’s Own Band Club in Valletta investigates contemporary reality in which the ugliness of roads and pristine countryside have to co-exist as a dichotomy in Malta’s way of life.
Yet, the artist deciphers beauty even in the most inauspicious of locations, such as in the geometry of the road network and its juxtaposition with trees, streetlights and general urban elements.
Sights and Sites, curated by Fleur-Marie Ebejer, is on until January 11. Refer to the artist’s Facebook profile for more information.
Towards Żebbiegħ No. 1 by Silvio John CamilleriOTHER EXHIBITIONS
Sunetti: Minn Fomm u Qalb il-Poplu
Malta Libraries is holding an exhibition on Maltese sonnets at the National Library of Malta in Valletta.
It is open to the public, free of charge, until tomorrow. One may visit today between 8.30am to 12.30pm.
The exhibition catalogue and a sonnet written specifically for the occasion and printed on silk (limited edition of 100) are available for sale from the Reading Room.
She Said Darling with a 'K': Reimagining Katya Saunders
Spazju Kreattiv is dedicating an exhibition to the life of Katya Saunders, three years after her death.
The exhibition, which features a catalogue of photos, clothes and memorabilia, highlights the different facets of one of the first transgender women who broke boundaries in terms of sexual diversity and inclusion in Malta.
The exhibition, curated by Charlie Cauchi and Romeo Roxman Gatt, is also complemented by the launch of Saunders's official biography, penned by Ramona Depares, Kayta: Easy on the Tonic, which will take place on January 6.
The exhibition runs until January 22.
Memorabilia of Katya Saunders on display at Spazju Kreattiv. Photo: Facebook/Spazju Kreattiv