Teatru Manoel presents: guitar concert by Simon Schembri and The Parisii String Quartet

Guitar was a very popular instrument in Malta when Simon Schembri started playing it at the age of six. At the age of nine, he was already giving concerts and was awarded the licence of the Royal Schools of Music of London (L.R.S.M.) when he was 14. The following year, he was chosen as a student of Master Alexandre Lagoya at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris where he was awarded First Prize. He has won international competitions and is a member of the Yehudi Menuhin and George Cziffra Music Foundations. The Malta Classical Music Award paid tribute to his career and legacy to the Maltese music scene.

Acclaimed virtuoso, Simon Schembri gives numerous recitals in France, his adopted country, and also in Verona, Warsaw, Istanbul, Tunisia and Venezuela. He also dedicates a large part of his activity to chamber music playing quintets with Quatuor Debussy, Quatuor Ludwig, Quatuor Parisii, duets with great artists Alexandre Lagoya, Marielle Nordmann, Yuri Bashmet, and orchestral works in renowned halls namely the Théâtre du Châtelet with Solistes de l’Orchestre de Paris, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Salle Pleyel, Cathédrale des Invalides with Orchestre de la Garde Républicaine, Palais des Congrès Paris with Orchestre Lamoureux, Purcell Room London, Liceo Madrid, Royal Castle Warsaw, and in major international festivals, Aix-les-Bains, Chartres, Biarritz, Mediterranean Festival, Flâneries Musicales de Reims.

Simon Schembri has constant interest in the evolution of the guitar. He premiered several works from Jacques Chailley, Erik Marchelie, Gordon Mizzi and Karl Fiorini and has been closely working with Spanish guitar maker Ignacio Rozas and Savarez Strings. He is a Professor and regularly gives masterclasses in summer music academies namely the Academie Internationale de musique de Lozère, des Pays de Loire and Musicalta.

Founded by four students from the Conservatory of Paris, all first prize laureates in both instrument and chamber music, the Parisii Quartet recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, thus emphasizing the outstanding achievements of its 30 years of musical and human adventure, unique in their intensity and richness.

The keystone in their itinerary, the search of the perfect sound and profound conviction that music needs to be lived from the inside, is legated to the Parisii Quartet from its master, Maurice Crut, brilliant representative of the French-Belgian tradition and member of the renowned Pascal Quartet.

The concert will be held on Saturday, 15 October at 8pm and includes works by Boccherini, Giuliani, Marchelie, Dyens, Piazzolla, Rigney, Albeniz and Barrios. A pre-concert talk will take place at 7.30pm