Valletta Baroque Festival 2019 launched

The 7th edition of the Valletta Baroque Festival will cover 36 performances on 18 locations between 11 and 26 January 2019. It again will be a showcase of top musicians on mesmerizing baroque locations.

The festival will just as last year venture out of Valletta to other baroque venues including:

Mdina, the old Siculo-Norman capital where one can still see the columns of Roman temples in its foundations, Birgu (Vittoriosa) and Senglea (L-Isla) which lie across the Grand Harbour from Valletta and form part of what is referred to as The Three Cities; and Rabat, Ghaxaq, Qrendi and Zejtun – all boasting exquisite examples of Malta’s baroque heritage.

Possible theme of this year’s edition is ‘diversity’. Baroque music is not a ‘museum piece’ but is something that is very much alive, therefore the programme features concerts that look at Baroque in the different way. Among these highlights will be Barock ’n Roll on January 12, during which the Matheus Ensemble will perform an amalgam of baroque and rock music.

Another noteworthy sidestep is Path of Love on January 26 which brings Moroccan Oud and Harpsichord together.

As in the previous edition there will also be a lot of Bach such as the complete cello suites performed by Isang Enders (21 and 22 January), the Brandenburg Concertos by Les Passions de L’Ame (26 January) and the not-to-bemissed St Matthew Passion at St. John’s Co-Cathedral performed by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment directed by John Butt on 22 January.

New this year is that for a little extra the audience can mingle informally with the performers whilst having something to eat and drink after the concert. Tickets for these events and all other concerts can be booked online at http://vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt/ or through the box office of Teatru Manoel (bookings@teatrumanoel.mt)

at St. Catherine Church in Zejtun, performed by Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri and Giulio Prandi.

25 January

After Claudio Monteverdi’s Missa in Illo Tempore SV205 at the Parish Church of the Assumption in Qrendi, performed by Cantar Lontano Ensemble.