“A surprisingly cultural place”
"Un endroit étonnamment culturel"
Entretien avec le directeur artistique du théâtre Manoel.
"There was a sort of EU in Malta before the EU was invented."
Kenneth Zammit Tabona a de nombreuses activités. Ce peintre avisé est, entre autres, le directeur artistique du festival international de musique baroque de La Valette ainsi que du théâtre national Manoel qui accueille l'orchestre philharmonique de Malte. Avec lui nous revenons sur la riche histoire culturelle de l’île !
Vocable: What is so fascinating about Maltese culture? Kenneth Zammit Tabona: Malta has always been a surprisingly cultural place. For 300 years, there was a sort of EU in Malta before the EU was invented. When the Knights of St. John were here, there were Spanish knights, Portuguese knights, German knights, English knights, Roman knights… You name it, they were here. All Europe was represented here and obviously they brought over their musicians, composers, etc. Then, with the proximity of Italy came operas in the 19th century and the early 20th century. Post-war Malta saw a little bit of a decline, but I imagine in the last 30 years it's been very, very active again. But it’s not just about the music, we are cultural on a very, very European level.
2. Vocable: Can you tell us about the Manoel Theatre? Kenneth: A Portuguese Grand Master called António Manoel de Vilhena built it in 1731, and it was quite small. I think it was built mainly to keep the younger knights gainfully amused and off getting into trouble. I imagine there was a lot of testosterone flying around. In those days, it was called Theatre Publico. What happened then, with the rise of the popularity of opera during the early British period around the 1840s, was a British architect called General Whitmore expanded the theatre in a very good way. He kept the articulation of the original theatre; in other words, he didn’t change very much and therefore the Baroque element remained. It still is totally Baroque today.
3. Vocable: A few words about the Baroque Festival? Kenneth: The tiny Valletta, where you can walk from end to end in 25 minutes flat, is a wall-locked city surrounded by water. It works very well in a festival atmosphere because everybody can go from one place to the other in record time. The city is full of restaurants and, of course, glorious churches. We use all the venues in Valletta as much as possible during the festival that lasts for two and half weeks in January. 4. Vocable: Have you got something special planned for the Festival next year? Kenneth: It will be even more intense than it was this year. We will have a Benigno Zerafa’s Mass that has not been performed for two centuries and we'll be able to really show Valletta off in a fantastic way, especially since it will be capital of culture 2018!
1. knight chevalier / you name it ici, quelle que soit l'origine / obviously évidemment, bien sûr / composer compositeur / century siècle / early début (de) / to be about ici, s'agir de .
2. quite assez, plutôt / gainfully (tout en étant) rémunéré; ici, de façon appropriée / off ici, éviter qu'ils ne... / to get, got, got into trouble s'attirer des ennuis / flying around dans l'air / in those days à l'époque / to happen se passer, arriver / then ici, après / rise ici, montée / around aux alentours de / to expand agrandir / articulation structure, style / in other words en d'autres termes, autrement dit / therefore par conséquent / to remain rester, subsister.
3. tiny minuscule, (tout) petit / from end to end d'un bout à l'autre / flat ici, chrono, pile / wall-locked ici, ceinturée de remparts / to surround entourer / to work fonctionner, "marcher", réussir / atmosphere ambiance / of course bien sûr/ évidemment / church église / venue lieu, endroit, site / as much as autant que / to last durer.
4. even ici, encore / mass (messe de) requiem / to perform interpréter, jouer / to be able to ici, pouvoir / to show, showed, showed or shown off mettre en valeur / way façon / especially surtout, particulièrement / since étant donné/du fait que (especially since d'autant que).