Opening Concert Tuesday
Date: Tuesday 22nd April
Venue: St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral, Valletta,
Time: 20:00
Price: €20
Discount 50% for Students and Senior citizens
Free for Children 15 years and younger
Quíron Quartet
Edgar Gomes, violin I
Barbara Udovcic, violin II
José Azevedo, viola
Maria Nabeiro, cello
Shostakovich | String Quartet no. 8
Shostakovich | String Quartet no. 15
As much as its name comes from the Greek mythology of the Centaur of Knowledge and Art, we search the knowledge of quartet playing and the art of presenting it to an audience to the utmost possible. Founded in late 2020 by four musicians graduated from the best conservatoires in Europe, Quíron Quartet has already performed in countries such as Belgium, France, Netherlands and Portugal, in festivals such as Poitou International Chamber Music Festival (France), Musica em Si Maior Festival, A Corda Caminhos Conjuntos II Chamber Music Cycle (Portugal), the Storioni Festival and Blaricum Music Festival BV (Netherlands).
Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 is a deeply emotional and introspective work, written as a personal reflection on suffering and despair, with recurring motifs of his musical signature. His String Quartet No. 15, composed near the end of his life, is a profound meditation on mortality, with six interconnected movements evoking an atmosphere of solemnity and haunting beauty.
Contemporary Dance with live Music – Fragments in Flux
Date: Thursday 24th April
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta,
Time: 20:00
Price: €30 & €20
Discount 50% for Students and Senior citizens
Free for Children 15 years and younger
Kristina Besman, violin
Philip Attard, saxophone
Gjorgji Cincievski, double bass
Christine Zerafa, piano
Moveo Dance Company
Charlotte Carpentie, dancer
Cindelle Bouard, dancer
Irene Nocella, dancer
Natalia Filowait, dancer
Dorian Mallia, choreographer
Berio | Sequenzas
Boulez | 12 Notations
Choreographer and Dancer Dorian Mallia, will give new life to Luciano Berio’s Sequenza for Piano and Pierre Boulez’s Douze Notations through choreography, merging the intricate, avant-garde musical textures with dynamic movement. The performance will explore the relationship between sound and physicality, interpreting the complexity and intensity of each composition in a visually compelling way.
Sandro Zerafa Quartet
Date: Friday 25th April
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta,
Time: 20:00
Price: €30 & €20
Discount 50% for Students and Senior citizens
Free for Children 15 years and younger
Sandro Zerafa, guitar
Noé Huchard, piano
Yoni Zelkin, bass
Francesco Ciniglio, drums
Sandro Zerafa has always been a musician difficult to categorize. His versatility and eclecticism have allowed him to work and record in various settings, ranging from Brazilian music and mainstream jazz to more modern styles. The music he offers as a composer reflects this diverse universe, as evidenced by his five critically acclaimed albums. Sandro now presents his brand-new quartet, with whom he has recorded his 6th album, released in 2024.
Closing Concert Saturday
Date: 26th April
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta,
Time: 20:00
Price: €30 & €20
Discount 50% for Students and Senior citizens
Free for Children 15 years and younger
Malta Spring Festival Academy Orchestra
Dmitry Sitkovetsky, violin solo
Brian Schembri, conductor
Fiorini | Pentimenti
Shostakovich | Symphony for Strings op.110a
Pärt | Fratres
Tchaikovsky | Serenade for Strings
This programme brings together the Malta Spring Festival Academy Orchestra under conductor Brian Schembri, featuring world renowned violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky. It opens with Karl Fiorini’s Pentimenti, followed by Shostakovich’s Symphony for Strings op.110a, a powerful reworking of his 8th quartet. Pärt’s Fratres provides a meditative contrast, leading to the evening’s conclusion with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, a lyrical favorite.
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ABOUT
Conceived and founded in 2005 by its artistic director Karl Fiorini, The Malta Spring Festival is an annual classical and contemporary music festival known for its innovative programming and commitment to new orchestral and chamber works.
The festival takes place in different venues in Valletta, capital city of Malta.
Each year the Malta Spring Festival presents its listeners with a theme (2017 From Zappa to Beethoven, 2018 Revolution and its Composers, 2019 Of Death and Maidens, 2020 Must it be? It must be!, 2021 Degenerates) exploring the repertoire from the classicists to today, rarely or unheard in Malta, taking the audience on a journey of cultural, psychological and personal discovery. The Malta Spring Festival takes pride in carefully selecting an ambitious roster of artists as well as in placing a premium on challenge, innovation and class, showcasing the new with the not-so-old in unexpected juxtapositions of programming, at times verging on audience “unfriendly”, emotionally relentless, and mentally demanding repertoire.
Running parallel to the evening concerts and recitals, an education strand of the Malta Spring Festival - Rising Stars Concert Series - welcomes up-and-coming local artists to hone their skills on the larger stage, encouraging them to think and compare less regionally, with the aim of providing these young artists in-the-making the necessary springboard to pursue their musical education abroad the limited shores of Malta.
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TESTIMONIALS
"There is something so special about the Malta Spring Festival. Rather difficult to put into words but so marvellous ... Somehow one has the mixed sensation of playing in an important place, yes, but that the public (each one of the listeners) is an old friend that is following with connoisseurship, interest and JOY the adventure and the pleasure of the living music. And that this joy is contagious and you enjoy, while playing, the beauty of friendship."
- Joaquín Achúcarro
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