The Valletta Baroque Festival will again feature top-notch artists, both from Malta and abroad, performing wonderful music from Monteverdi to Bach and beyond between January 10 and 25, 2020.

Just like last year, the festival will explore beautiful baroque settings outside Valletta, such as Verdala Palace and the beautiful St Philip parish church of Żebbuġ, and as such bring baroque music into the places it was composed for.

While programming, each edition takes a life of its own and forms a distinct pattern; sometimes intentionally and sometimes not. The forthcoming festival edition is predominately secular, with lots of concertos from all over Europe. 

Artistic director Kenneth Zammit Tabona highlights that especially close to his heart are “the Neapolitan concertos, which inspired our own Maltese composers who went to study with Francesco Durante in the 18th century. As Malta at the time was ruled as a sovereign principality by a semi-monastic order of chivalric aristocrats coming from the four corners of Europe it was inevitable that the culture of the time was deeply influenced by this rich potpourri; this is reflected in our culture even today. However, it was Naples, the nearest and most cosmopolitan capital, ruled by a branch of Spanish Bourbons, that was our cultural alma mater.”  

Connections to the royal and imperial courts of Europe at the time were a fact, and cross-fertilisation of cultures was unavoidable. This is what aptly describes the spirit of the 2020 festival: a celebration of European culture from the music commissioned by the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, regent of the Spanish Netherlands, to the 20th century masterpieces that were ‘Inspired by Baroque’; a commemoration of the apogee of what historian Arthur Bryant indelibly christened ‘The Age of Elegance’. La Grande Chapelle will perform music written for Isabella Clara Eugenia on January 22 in the mesmerising setting of St John’s Co-Cathedral. Some sidesteps are the clarinet version of the Goldberg Variations by MOA trio (January 22) and the reworked versions of original and transcribed music from Bach by Teodoro Bau and Andrea Buccarella (January 16).

Not to be missed are the Bach concertos by the young, French and already re­nowned Ensemble Dynastie (January 23) and the Sacred Vivaldi concert by La Serenissima at the Collegiate Church of St Paul in Rabat (January 11).

Other highlights are the opening concert at the Manoel Theatre with the renowned orchestra Les Musiciens du Louvre and Vivica Genaux directed by Thibault Noally, bringing music by Porpora and Handel (January 10) in collaboration with the French Embassy; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at the Church of St Catherine in Żurrieq by Abchordis Ensemble (January 18); and the concert dedicated to Neapolitan cello concertos performed by Catherine Jones (January 16); and the Ensemble Barocco di Napoli with music by Vivaldi, Handel and Pergolesi (January 19).

Last but not least, the eighth edition will close in style with Bel Canto from Naples by Simone Kermes & Amici Veneziani at the Manoel Theatre.

The Valletta Baroque Festival is an initiative of the Manoel Theatre and is structurally supported by the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government and the Malta Tourism Authority.

The festival can be followed on the following channels: Website: http://vallettabaroquefestival.mt; App: http://app.vallettabaroquefestival.mt; Facebook: http://facebook.com/vallettabaroquefestival

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