Maltese percussionist, sound artist and composer Renzo Spiteri will be joined by Scottish flautist Richard Craig to present Nordic Resonance, a new immersive sound performance shaped by Shetland Islands’ environment, at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta, on January 30.
At the geographic crossroads between Scotland and Scandinavia where the Atlantic Ocean meets the North Sea, the Shetland Islands are distinguished by a landscape of natural magnificence, bird calls, whale song, the force of the wind and the ever-changing moods of the coastline and the sea.
Using sound as a lived experience of place and developed through deep listening and extended engagement with the Shetland environment, Nordic Resonance explores how sound can carry the presence of landscape and its atmosphere beyond the place of origin and into theatres and performance spaces.
“Nordic Resonance is a contemporary sonic postcard of a place that I lived in for the past six years where I had the opportunity to immerse myself in the island’s natural environment and to gather an extensive sound library over an extended period of time,” Spiteri said.
“Shetland’s natural environment fed into the creation of this new work, and since the sounds of nature are ever changing and never repeating, Richard and I felt that our own playing should reflect this sense of impermanence. Each performance is created in the moment, allowing a new conversation between nature and music to unfold every time we perform.”
Environmental sounds, whether presented in their pure form or transformed into abstracted textures, are key elements that shaped the creation of Nordic Resonance, with the musicians responding to, reacting against and creating counterpoints to the field recordings.
The result is a conversation: between environment and artist, between sound and sensation, between what is heard and what lies just beneath. Instruments, found sounds and live processing blur the lines between the human and the elemental, creating an immersive invocation of place through sound, and offering a space for resonance and reflection, where audiences can slow down and listen closely.
Spiteri’s performance practice is expansive, weaving percussion, found objects, live electronics and improvisation into richly textured experiences. Winner of the 2025 Royal Television Society Craft and Design Award (Sound − Non-Scripted) and a 2025 Emmy News and Documentary Nominee (Outstanding Sound − Documentary), he has over three decades of international performance experience, performing across genres ranging from spoken word and world music to jazz, classical and experimental work.
Praised by Gramophone Magazine for his “primal, at times ecstatic state of Fauvist force”, Craig has developed a distinctive approach to contemporary flute performance. He has collaborated with renowned ensembles such as Musikfabrik, Klangforum Wien, and the Riot Ensemble, and is a noted improviser and educator, currently serving as director of performance at the University of Edinburgh.
Nordic Resonance will be presented at the Spazju Kreattiv Theatre on January 30 at 8pm, followed by an artist talk/Q&A session about the project and its developmental process, moderated by visual artist, curator and academic Vince Briffa. Through this session, the audience will be invited to be part of the project by offering thoughts, comments and feedback about the work.
The project is presented as part of Spazju Kreattiv’s 2025/2026 programme, with repeat performances in Shetland and Glasgow.
The work is supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.
More information is available at spazjukreattiv.org.