"We're going to play "A Hero's Life", an overjoyed Sigmund Mifsud told me on the phone. "This is such a big thing for us!"
Indeed it was. A Hero's Life is, of course, Richard Strauss' amazing "musical poem" which is not only very difficult to perform but requires an extraordinary number of musicians to perform. In fact, Sigmund quickly informed me that no less than 105 musicians were assembled on the big night were our Orchestra proudly played this piece of genius.
To top it all off, firebrand Conductor Lawrence Renes – his mother is a Bonnici from Birgu, I later got to know – provided a magnificent input which certainly made all the difference.
The event was dedicated to Joe Curmi l-Puse', a larger than life musician who was loved by all and sundry.
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Why am I mentioning this?
I am mentioning this because our Orchestra and its amazing progress symbolise how much our art and culture scene has moved forward. If I had to find a symbol that represent all the magnificent things we have achieved together in the field of the arts, it would certainly be our Orchestra.
Officially the Orchestra was born on 1 April 1968 – yes this year we are celebrating its 50th anniversary. But, as any enthusiast would tell you, before that, there was the C-in-C Orchestra of the British Navy (a Chamber orchestra) in which Joe Curmi played a strong and important part.
Things have changed so much over time. Eventually the Orchestra cut its umbilical cord from the Manoel Theatre and obtained an autonomous status.
The last five years were, for sure, the golden years of the Orchestra, where it went from strength to strength.
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Yesterday we signed a new collective agreement which will strongly improve the conditions of employment of the musicians of the National Orchestra.
The collective agreement was signed in the presence of many members of the Orchestra who deserve all the credit for making such an extraordinary success.
In reality a collective agreement for an Orchestra is in itself an important piece of news for the field of culture. It represents the possibility of art becoming a career, a strong professional path which brings a good quality of life for the persons who are in it.
A look at the economic numbers and statistics would show you that one of the fields which has increased and developed in an outstanding manner is the economic growth in the field of culture and the arts. Thousands of people earn their living from the creative industries in Malta and the numbers are always increasing. This strong showing mirrors the huge priority Culture and the Arts are given in the yearly budget by the Government. This year, for instance, the total amount of money given to the creative sectors across the various Ministries is a whopping €70 million.
Every cent is an investment worth making.
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The next step is to keep spreading the love of music, including classical music, in our communities.
Band clubs are a fantastic school for people who want to learn instruments and they afford all the teaching for free. That is why I love band clubs so much and am keen to keep assisting and helping them. But I would also like to see more orchestras in our village squares and more people play in, say chamber orchestras, for fun in their communities. Zurrieq is a trailblazer in this sense – there the Local Council has its own orchestra made up of volunteers who simply love music. There are other examples.
I am keen to see our top musicians at the Orchestra involve themselves more at community level to create more interest for children and people to pick up an instrument and play!
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This week a group of MEPs from the CULT committee within the European Parliament came to see with their own eyes the work we're doing during the Valletta 2018.
They were all full of praise for what we have in store and they gave a strong vote of confidence in our work.
In particular they underlined the vast amount of events we have in store and the strong variety. As I always said, the easiest thing for us could have been bringing a big rock star to headline Valletta 2018. We could have done that without much difficulty. However the European Capital for culture should not be about that but about culture in the various form, in participation and democratisation.
Malta has so much to offer in this aspect. It is always a very positive feeling to be congratulated by such a high calibre team from the various political parties in the European Parliament. This is all very positive news and this has been received very well by all the team at Valletta 2018 Foundation.
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I am still receiving to this day excellent reviews about our Baroque Festival. Leading publications described our Festival as one of the absolute best in Europe. All merit goes to the fabulous Kenneth Zammit Tabona and his wonderful team. This year it was different since Kenneth decided to venture more out of the walls of the Manoel Theatre and in the heart of local communities. People loved it, as all hundreds of tourists who flocked to assist to this piece of magic.
This is the real Malta. This is us.