Piano and strings at the Montekristo Estate
Renowned Italian pianist Ilaria Loatelli will be joined by string musicians from the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert at the Montekristo Estate on Saturday, 2 September.
The concert is being organised by the European Foundation for Support of Culture together with Montekristo Estate, with the support of the MPO and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura.
Loatelli, who hails from Verona, started learning the piano at the age of six, debuted with an orchestra when she was nine and hasn’t looked back since. She has performed throughout Europe, China, North America and Australia.
For the 2 September concert, she will be joined by a string quintet composed of MPO musicians: violinists Reggie Clews and Fiona Giambra, violist Aiveen Gallagher, cellist Christopher Greenhalgh and double bassist Michelle Scicluna.
The musicians will be tackling two great piano concertos, by Mozart and Chopin, which both lend themselves to being performed by a piano and string quintet in a chamber music setting.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major stands out among the composer’s early concertos. It was written in Vienna in 1782, and is considered to be a forerunner of his more mature works.
Chopin was a renowned pianist and all his compositions feature the piano, mostly on its own. His Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor was one of the few works the Polish composer wrote with an orchestra in mind.
It was actually written in 1830 just after his second piano concerto premièred, but was the first to be published. The concerto proved to be a resounding success, with a full house erupting in thunderous applause at its première, held in Chopin’s native Poland just as the outbreak of an uprising saw him leave his homeland never to return.
Bookings can be made by calling on 7713 0477 or by sending an email to concerts@eufsc.eu. Tickets are priced at €20, and include a welcome drink and finger food.