The Valletta International Baroque Festival is one of the largest music festivals of Malta. It was founded by its present Artistic Director Kenneth Zammit Tabona in 2013. The programmatic focus is on baroque and early music.
Three editions of the earlier 'Manoel Baroque Festival' had been organised in 2001, 2003, and 2005, focusing on the Baroque age and founded by Rev. Prof. Peter Serracino Inglott and Prof. Denis De Lucca, then chairman and director of the International Institute for Baroque Studies at the University of Malta, together with the board and management of the Manoel Theatre in Valletta. [1]
Since its establishment in 2013, the Valletta International Baroque Festival is held every year in January and organized by the direction of Manoel Theatre. [2] The concerts and opera performances are presented in several Baroque buildings in the city of Valletta.
Among the artists who have performed at the festival are Mahan Esfahani, Philippe Herreweghe, Christophe Rousset, and Jordi Savall.[ citation needed ]
On 26 January 2017, Reuben Pace's Concertino for guitar, harpsichord and orchestra was premiered at Manoel Theatre under the slogan Inspired by Baroque with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Michelle Castelletti as well as the soloists Johanna Beisteiner (guitar) and Joanne Camilleri (harpsichord). [3] [4] It was the first world premiere during the Valletta International Baroque Festival and signaled an artistic expansion of the festival's programme to contemporary works inspired by baroque music.
Raymond John Leppard was a British-American conductor, harpsichordist, composer and editor. In the 1960s, he played a prime role in the rebirth of interest in Baroque music; in particular, he was one of the first major conductors to perform Baroque opera, reviving works by Claudio Monteverdi and Francesco Cavalli. He conducted operas at major international opera houses and festivals, including the Glyndebourne Festival where he led the world premiere of Nicholas Maw's The Rising of the Moon, the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House. He composed film scores such as Lord of the Flies and Alfred the Great.
Ainadamaror An Opera in Three Images is the first opera by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. The libretto was written by American playwright David Henry Hwang and translated from English into Spanish by the composer. It premiered in Tanglewood on 10 August 2003 and, after major revisions, the new version was given its premiere at the Santa Fe Opera on 30 July 2005.
Teatru Manoel is a theatre and important performing arts venue in Malta. The theatre is often referred to as simply "The Manoel", and is named after Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Hospitaller, Fra António Manoel de Vilhena, who ordered its construction in 1731. The theatre is reputed to be Europe's third-oldest working theatre, and the oldest theatre still in operation in the Commonwealth of Nations.
Sigmund Mifsud is a trumpeter, musical director, arranger, and concert producer from Malta.
Maestro Chev. Carmelo Pace was a Maltese composer, and a professor of music theory and harmony. Born in Valletta, Malta on August 17, 1906, Pace was the eldest of three children. His parents were Anthony Pace and Maria Carmela née Ciappara.
Lydia Caruana is a Maltese operatic soprano who performs in the opera houses and concert halls of Europe and her native Malta. She has sung in two rarely performed operas by Maltese composers, Carmelo Pace's I martiri and Nicolo Isouard's Jeannot et Colin.
Jeannette Sorrell is an American conductor and harpsichordist and the founder and musical director of Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra.
Predrag Gosta is a Serbian-American conductor, harpsichordist, and baritone.
Johanna Beisteiner is an Austrian classical guitarist, singer and arranger.
Kasia Glowicka, also known as Katarina Glowicka, is a Polish composer and lecturer of computer music at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.
Terpsicore (HWV)(8b) is a prologue in the form of an opéra-ballet by George Frideric Handel. Handel composed it in 1734 for a revision of his opera Il pastor fido which had first been presented in 1712. The revision of Il pastor fido with Terpsicore as the prologue was first performed on 9 November 1734 at Covent Garden theatre in London, opening Handel's first season in that newly built theatre. Terpsicore mixes dance along with solo and choral singing and was patterned after models in French operas, a particular source being Les festes grecques et romaines by Louis Fuzelier and Colin de Blamont, first presented in Paris in 1723. The work featured the celebrated French dancer Marie Sallé as well as stars of Handel's Italian operas and was a success with audiences of the day.
Julian Perkins is a British conductor and keyboard player. Shortlisted for the Gramophone Award in 2021, he is Artistic Director of the Portland Baroque Orchestra in the US. He lives in London, England and is also Founder Director of the early music ensemble Sounds Baroque and Artistic Director of Cambridge Handel Opera Company.
Michelle Castelletti is a Maltese conductor.
Reuben Pace is a Maltese composer.
Joanne Camilleri is a Maltese pianist and harpsichordist.
Sara Briški Cirman, better known by her stage name Raiven, is a Slovenian singer, songwriter, and harpist. She first garnered wide recognition while competing to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 for Slovenia during the national final Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) with the song "Črno bel", where she placed second. Raiven went on to return to EMA in 2017, placing third with the song "Zažarim", and has competed again in 2019 with the song "Kaos", placing second.
Elli Papakonstantinou, is a stage director, librettist, translator, cultural manager and activist. Her theatre combines music, new media and philosophical discourse within the range of music theatre, new opera and social engagement. Papakonstantinou shaped her ideas from the civic movements that emerged in Greece during the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008. Twice a Fulbright Award recipient, Papakonstantinou has been commissioned by European Capitals of Culture, PQ'15 – Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, 2015 (CZ), while her work has been presented for the European Parliament for Culture and toured internationally.
Claire Guimond is a Canadian flute player, founding member and former Artistic Director of Arion Baroque Orchestra.
Jörg Halubek is a German conductor, harpsichordist, organist and professor.
Bridget Cunningham is a British-Irish harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist specialising in music of the Baroque period. Cunningham is Artistic Director of British period orchestra and research group London Early Opera.