The 26th edition of the Bir Miftuħ International Music Festival kicks off on Saturday. Organised by Din l-Art Ħelwa, this year’s festival will see various local and foreign performers in four concerts held at the charming medieval chapel of Santa Marija ta’ Bir Miftuħ in Gudja. The programme is as follows:
The first recital on Saturday will be a violoncello and piano performance by the Karlsruhe Concert Duo, featuring Reinhard Armleder (violoncello) and Dagmar Hartmann (piano). They will play works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bartholdy, Schumann, Rossini, Ravel and Piazzolla. This concert is made possible by The German Maltese Circle and the Goethe Institute.
The following event on April 25 will be a vocal and harp performance. Soprano Gillian Zammit will perform alongside members of the Opera Nova Project: mezzo soprano Nicole Vassallo, tenor Jester Rosales and harpist Anne Marie Camilleri Podestà. They will play works by Massenet, Debussy, Berlioz, Gounod and Fauré. This concert is supported by the Embassy of France and the Alliance Française de Malte-Méditerranée.
Next up, on May 2, is a string quartet, featuring Inmaculada Muñoz Salgüero (violin), Agnieska Kuzma (violin), Ester García Salas (viola), Desireé Calleja (cello). They will perform works by Turina, Toldrà and Albéniz. This concert is supported by the Spanish Embassy.
The Re: Orchestra of Rotterdam Ensemble is the protagonist of this year’s final concert on May 10. The performers include artistic director Roberto Beltrán-Zavala, Nicolai Bernstein (violin I), Sarah Spiteri (violin 2), Hara van Amersfoort (Viola), Wijnand Hulst (violoncello), Jessica Scerri Ellul (clarinet), Jenny Melville (oboe), Gillian Zammit (soprano) and Clare Ghigo (mezzo soprano). The programme includes works by Schubert, R. Strauss, Haendel, Mahler and Karl Fiorini. This concert is being sponsored by John Vassallo and Marianne Knoll.
All concerts start at 7.30pm. Refreshments, sponsored by PwC Malta and Marsovin, will be served in the chapel grounds after each concert.
Tickets for each concert are against a donation of €25 per person and include refreshments. Block bookings are against a donation of €95 for four concerts, €70 for three concerts and €46 for two concerts.
Remittances for bookings can be settled as follows: By cheque payable to Din l-Art Ħelwa, with an accompanying note to the organising committee, Bir Miftuh International Music Festival, 133 Melita Street, Valletta, or by bank transfers effected to one of the following bank accounts:
HSBC MT76MMEB44336000000033181181001; BOV MT51VALL22013000000040021787427; APS MT02APSB7702400089201089201001. It is important to include one’s name when doing a bank transfer.
For more information, contact Din l-Art Ħelwa on 2122 0358/2122 5952 or e-mail: info@dinlarthelwa.org.
About the performers
First concert: The Karlsruhe Concert Duo, founded in 1999, has achieved great success over the years. The duo, comprising Reinhard Armleder and Dagmar Hartmann, is in very high demand and has performed in more than 90 countries around the world. The musicians are regularly highly lauded for fascinating their audiences by the depth of their interpretations, their brilliant technique and their imaginative choice of programmes.
Second concert: Gillian Zammit is a highly accomplished Maltese soprano. She is much esteemed as a recital singer and as an exponent of baroque music, performing regularly in the Valletta International Baroque Festival, the Utrecht Early Music Festival in Holland and many other prestigious festivals in Europe.
Anne Marie Camilleri Podestà is a renowned Maltese harpist. At 16 she became a member of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and has consistently performed with it. She has played with the European Symphonieta, the European Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and other famous orchestras.
The Opera Nova Project was founded by Gillian Zammit and Denise Mulholland with the aim of providing a holistic high level of musical education to exceptionally talented young local voice students and to create a local and international platform for these students.
Third concert: Inmaculada Muñoz Salgüero, Agnieska Kuzma, Ester García Salas and Desireé Calleja are highly talented and accomplished musicians. All of them are members of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and have also performed with various prominent orchestras around Europe.
Fourth concert: The Re: Orchestra of Rotterdam Ensemble has been described by the European specialised press as a superb and passionate ensemble. The musicians are active in some of Europe’s foremost orchestras, and they deliver exceptional performances at renowned festivals and concert halls across Europe.
This information was provided by Din l-Art Ħelwa.
