Marco Frisina’s Oratorio to commemorate St Paul’s Shipwreck feast

Renowned Italian composer Marco Frisina will be conducting the National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jubilate Deo choir for the world premiere of his oratorio Fino ai confini della terra on 11 February at St John’s CoCathedral.

This concert is being organised by Fondazzjoni Paulus with the collaboration of St John’s CoCathedral Foundation and it is part of the annual Rabat Agape Festival. During this concert, Monsignor Frisina will be directing another world premiere work by Maltese composer Christopher Muscat. Muscat’s sacred cantata L-X ta’ Frar 1928 is based on a poem written by Malta’s national poet Dun Karm Psaila and recounts the biblical story of St Paul’s Shipwreck on our islands.

This shipwreck is also the inspiration behind Frisina’s oratorio as he uses chapters 27 and 28 of the Acts of the Apostles in order to compose this one hour work.

Tickets for this concert can be obtained from www.fondazzjonipaulus.org.

The Rabat Agape Festival opens with a concelebrated High Mass at St Paul’s parish church in Rabat on 25 January at 6pm and continues with a public lecture on Wednesday 1 February at St Michael’s school in Santa Venera about St George Preca, the Pauline cult in Malta and Monsignor Joseph De Piro (founder of the Missionary Society of St Paul). This lecture by Dr Doris Cannataci seeks to discuss the influences derived from the teachings of St Paul on these two founders of religious organisations.

This festival would not have been possible without the assistance of various organisations, namely, APS Bank, the 2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Malta Arts Council and MPM Investments.