MUSIC
Vox Dulcis Chorale's fifth anniversary concert
Vox Dulcis Chorale is holding a concert to celebrate its fifth anniversary at Palazzo de La Salle in Valletta on October 20.
The programme features music by Burt Bacharach, the Beatles, Leonard Bernstein, as well as ethnic and more contemporary songs.
John Anthony Fsadni will conduct the choir and Petra Magri Gatt will accompany at the piano.
The concert starts at 8pm and will be followed by a drinks reception. Tickets can be booked from voxdulcischorale@gmail.com or by calling on 9922 1013. They can also be purchased at the door.
FILM
La Bohème 2022
The Eden Cinemas in St Julian’s is broadcasting Richard Jones’s recent production La Bohème 2022, live from London’s Royal Opera House.
Giacomo Puccini's opera follows penniless writer Rodolfo who believes that art is all he needs – until he meets Mimì, the lonely seamstress who lives upstairs. So begins a timeless love story that blooms, fades and rekindles with the passing seasons. But while the couple’s friends, Marcello and Musetta passionately row and make up, a force greater than love threatens to overtake Rodolfo and Mimì.
Kevin John Edusei, Evelino Pidò and Paul Wynne Griffiths star in the main roles.
Certified PG, the opera is being screened today at 8.15pm, and on Sunday, October 23 at 3pm. For more information and tickets, click here.
A scene from La Bohème 2022. Photo: ROHMiscellaneous events
Valletta Local Food Festival
The Valletta Cultural Agency is hosting the first edition of the Valletta Local Food Festival at the Valletta Design Cluster between today and Saturday from 7.30pm to 11pm.
There will be a wide selection of traditional, handcrafted, fresh local food and drink, live music and educational talks.
The various food items available will include roast pork as well as pies, krustini, honey rings and cheeselets. There will also be local wines and beers.
The Valletta Local Food Festival is supported by the Malta Tourism Authority. For more information, visit the event's Facebook page.
Talk on female slaves in 18th-century Malta
The Malta Historical Society is today hosting the public lecture 'Female Slaves in 18th Century Malta' by Louise Fiott.
Fiott will present the stories of enslaved and liberated women in the 18th-century who paid their contribution to Maltese society in different ways. Female slaves were an integral part of the families they lived with; they took care of their masters and mistresses; took care of the house and also cared and took part in the upbringing of children. However, little else is known about their daily lives.
Fiott is a teacher of history at St Ignatius College, Secondary School and has just finished her Master’s degree in Mediterranean Studies focusing on the history of female slavery in the Mediterranean in the 18th-century, with particular focus on the Maltese scene.
The event, sponsored by The Alfred Mizzi Foundation, is taking place at the Din l-Art Ħelwa premises at 133, Melita Street, Valletta, at 6.30pm. For more information, visit the event's Facebook page.
VISUAL ARTS
Residue
A solo exhibition by Joseph Farrugia is open at Bureau Iniala in Valletta until tomorrow, October 21.
Residue explores the definition of man's existence, through particles, negative spaces, generations, and the residuals we leave behind.
The exhibition, organised by Marie Gallery 5 and curated by Maria Galea, is open this week from 9.30am to 5pm.
Visit the event’s Facebook page for more info.
Also read the Times of Malta interview with the artist.
The Double Slit Experiment by Joseph Farrugia. Photo: Facebook/Marie Gallery 5re.vis.it
Rupert Cefai's third solo exhibition at art..e Gallery in Victoria closes today.
Having a vested interest in art from a young age, Rupert Cefai started his professional career as an interior designer, gradually shifting his focus from design to painting. For this exhibition, Cefai has chosen a series of his latest works ranging from the depiction of local customs to streetscapes.
For more information, visit the gallery's Facebook page.
Resonances
An exhibition by the late maestro Pawlu Grech runs at The Volunteer Centre, St Bartholomew Street, Rabat, until Saturday, October 22.
From an early age, Grech showed proficiency both for music and for the visual arts. It was a twinned passion that was to persist throughout his life. This exhibition celebrates both sides of Grech, its title Resonances evoking the characteristics of both his music and visual art.
The exhibition, organised by Amanda Tabone, is part of an initiative managed by the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector ‘Art for VOs’ and will be in aid of Animal Guardian, Cat Sanctuary, Luqa.
Resonances will be open from 6 to 9pm. Consult the event’s Facebook page for more information.
Read more about the artist and his work in this Times of Malta feature.
Essence
A solo exhibition of contemporary realistic works in oil by Christine Porter Lofaro is open at the Malta Society of Arts at Palazzo de la Salle in Valletta.
The artist portrays observations, emotions and narratives as she strives to present our transitory presence in this world, its intensity and how much it matters.
The exibition, curated by Charlene Xaxa Calleja, runs until October 27. Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 8am to 7pm and on Saturdays from 9am to 1pm. For more information, click here.
For more insight, read the Times of Malta interview with the curator.
150 / Richard Ellis
The Richard Ellis Archive, consisting of 39,000+ glass negatives documenting the period in Malta and Gozo between 1861 and 1938, has been digitised in archival-grade quality for the first time in its history.
The British-Maltese photographer (January 1842-December 1924) was one of the pioneers of photography in Malta during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Thirty large prints taken from his archive are currently on display at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, until Sunday, October 23.
The exhibition is curated by Charles Paul Azzopardi and Ian Ellis. For more information, click here.
One may also read the Times of Malta interview with the collection's owner.
Prints and old photography equipment on display at the Richard Ellis exhibition at Spazju Kreattiv.Fuq Tlieta
Camilleri Paris Mode of Rabat is hosting an exhibition of paintings by three Maltese artists – Pawl Carbonaro, Jesmond Vassallo and Paul Camilleri.
Carbonaro is one of Malta’s foremost veteran artists, who is famous for his abstracts and semi-abstracted landscapes; Vassallo has a very varied oeuvre, ranging from landscapes to nudes to still lifes; while Camilleri is exhibiting his tactile abstracts that fit well with the works of the other two artists.
Fuq Tlieta is open until the end of October. Log on to the Camilleri Paris Mode Facebook page for more information.
It’s 5 o’Clock Somewhere − A Collective Art Exhibition Exploring Guilty Pleasures
A collective exhibition, being held at BOHO Boutique Hotel in Cospicua, is inspired by the famous phrase used when one craves an alcoholic drink at 10am, and to the sting of a guilty conscience, one declares that it is 5 o'clock somewhere in the world.
The participating artists, Aaron Bezzina, Daniel Borg, Roderick Camilleri, Debbie Caruana Dingli, Rupert Cefai, Antoine Farrugia, Karl Froman, Lawrence Pavia, Amelia Saint George, Mario Sammut and Darren Tanti, are portraying such instances they have encountered during their artistic career.
The exhibition, curated by Melanie Erixon, runs until October 30. It is open daily from 10.30am till 1.30pm and on Wednesdays also from 7pm to 10pm. Click here for more information.
By the Pool by Lawrence PaviaArchitecture Student Expo 2022
A celebration of everything the Faculty for the Built Environment at the University of Malta does, is taking place at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta.
The Architecture Student Expo is also an opportunity for the creativity of students and their ideas of future spaces and structures to be communicated to society through designs, sketches, digital graphics and architectural models.
The expo runs until October 30. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page and kreattivita.org.
BioArt Alchemy: Works by Anna Dumitriu
Internationally renowned British bioartist Anna Dumitriu is exhibiting for the first time at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta.
The artist uses bioart, sculpture, installation and digital media to explore a range of topics, from the origins of society to the sustainable production of biodegradable plastic, cutting-edge genetics and the possibility of bacterially-enhanced super-humans.
The project, a commission of Spazju Kreattiv, features a collaboration with artist Alex May. It is supported by Esplora Interactive Science Centre and Science in the City, Malta.
BioArt Alchemy runs until October 30. For more information, click here.
Landmarks
Artist Fabio Borg is holding his eighth solo exhibition throughout the month of October at The Phoenicia, in Floriana.
Borg construed this collection of abstract landscapes, tilted Landmarks, as innate emotions being expressed onto canvas and painted by instinct. The paintings, therefore, become emotional landmarks that Borg invites the viewer to partake in.
Borg is sensitive to his surroundings and trees, or the seeming lack thereof, is one such issue often a topic of heated discussions. Therefore, these compositions, largely produced in the last two years, trees are the main protagonists in an idealised reinterpretation of nature.
Landmarks, on display at The Phoenicia’s Palm Court Lounge, is curated by Charlene Vella.
Summer Fields by Fabio BorgFunny How Time….
Artist Paul Caruana is showing his latest collection of works at Gemelli Framing in Ta' Qali until October 30.
Through a series of poignant watercolours, most of which have origins in the artist’s own biography, Caruana invites us to dwell on the past and learn lessons to alter the present so that the future might be worth living.
The exhibition runs until October 30. Consult the event’s Facebook page for opening hours.
Read the Times of Malta interview with the artist here.
Groundwaters
A collective exhibition featuring outsider art – an umbrella term coined for individuals producing art outside the culturally established centres – is taking place at Valletta Contemporary Gallery.
Titled Groundwaters, this exhibition is the first one in Malta to explore the perspectives of individuals who are somewhat marginalised, through their own design or otherwise, and who create work on the fringes of the mainstream.
Curated by Gabriel Zammit, it features the works of Anonymous, Emma Attard, Adrian Camilleri, William Driscoll, Emma Johnson, Salvina Muscat and Joe Vassallo. It includes ex-voto paintings, West African Bocio fetish dolls and other objects which have their roots in religion, magic and ritual.
The exhibition runs until November 12. Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday from 2 to 7pm. For more information, visit www.vallettacontemporary.com/.
Also read this Times of Malta interview with the curator.
Q’eros: Beyond the Clouds
Il-Ħaġar Museum and Community Cultural Centre in Victoria is hosting an exhibition by Italian photographer Alessandro Bergamini until November 27.
Eight of the photos on display won Bergamimi the Travel Photographer of the Year award in 2021 and five more were included in the book Humanity, which was chosen as the best photographic book for 2021 in the International Photography Awards.
They will be accompanied with some 30 photos documenting the demanding Peru expedition earlier this year among the Q'eros community in the Andes. Visitors will be able to follow the filming on their mobile.
All the material is included in the exhibition catalogue, published as Il-Ħaġar GEMS 21. Also available are copies of Humanity, an assortment of photos highlighting peoples around the world.
The museum is open everyday from 9am to 5pm. Entrance is free. For more information, visit heartofgozo.org.mt/.
Some of the award-winning photos by Alessandro Bergamini on display at Il-Ħaġar Museum.OTHER EXHIBITIONS
Meet the Phoenicians of Malta
A Phoenician stone sarcophagus excavated last year at Għajn Klieb, on the outskirts of Rabat, is one of the major attractions of an exhibition at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.
The exhibition brings to light the results of months of painstaking studies by a multidisciplinary team researching the sarcophagus and two other tombs discovered in the area, as well as their contents. The three tombs, although inherently different, shed light on the burial rituals of the earliest Phoenicians on the island.
The exhibition runs until October 30. The museum in Republic Street, Valletta, is open from Monday to Sunday from 9am to 4.30pm. Entrance to the exhibition is free of charge.
Dumnikani fil-Palazz: Home & Temple
An exhibition at the Inquisitor's Palace in Vittoriosa tells of the special relationship between the palace and the neighbouring Dominican Order, especially in the post-war years.
Enemy war bombing in 1941 had left the Dominican community without a convent and a church, and they found temporary refuge beyond Vittoriosa. But they were called back by the need to fulfil their spiritual and educational mission among their people.
Eighty years ago, in August 1942, the Dominicans asked for temporary shelter at the Inquisitor’s Palace and, for almost two decades, the palace became the community’s home and temple.
The exhibition runs until January 8. The Inquisitor's Palace is open weekly from Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 4.30pm.