The Victoria International Arts Festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

The festival spans five weeks until July 11, marking itself as the longest-running festival of its kind on the Maltese islands.

Chamber music is the backbone of the festival, with no fewer than 35 concerts presented in any single edition. This year, VIAF will welcome close to 300 performers over a period of five weeks.

There are 20 countries represented this year, with performers from nearby Sicily to far-flung Brazil and North America.

The opening and closing concerts will be performed by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of British conductor Philip Walsh.

Soprano Miriam Cauchi performed in the opening concert held at the Astra Theatre on Friday. Serbian violin virtuoso Andrea Gajic will perform during the closing concert at St George’s Basilica on July 11.

Two exhibitions will also be presented, one of paintings by Debbie Bonello and Andrew Borg to be inaugurated today, June 12, and the other on Anne Frank, curated by the Tayar Foundation for Jewish Heritage in Malta to be inaugurated on Sunday, June 19).

Chamber music is the backbone of the festival

A watershed event is Bloomsday – Ulysses: A Portrait of the Artist on Fire, celebrating the first centenary of the publication of James Joyce’s seminal novel Ulysses.

VIAF commissioned a script from Vikesh Godhwani and Emma Johnson. The play will be performed on Thursday, June 16 at the Queen Victoria City Pub, Valletta.

World-class performers such as the Martinů Quartet, pianists Biliana Tzinlikova, Joseph-Maurice Weder, violinists Andrea Gajic, Heidi Schmid, violist Pierre Henri Xuereb and more will be taking part in this year’s programme.

There will be string quartets, piano trios, horn trios, flute quintet, saxophone quartet, solo recitals, vocal recitals, and more.

Masterclasses and debutantes’ concert will be held later on in 2022.

VIAF is grateful to its numerous sponsors and supporters, most notably the Arts Council Malta, the Gozo Cultural Heritage Directorate, the Victoria local council, the Malta Tourism Authority, the Irish Embassy in Malta, the Department of English at the University of Malta, the Valletta Cultural Agency, the Storm Petrel Foundation, APS Bank, BOV, and more.

All events are free of charge.