Art
Malta Arts Festival
Between the 1 and 24 July 2009
Sixteen events will feature in this year’s festival, featuring dance, theatre, visual arts and music from Malta, Spain, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Morocco. The programme includes the participation of artistes from The Globe Theatre of London, the Arditti Quartet and Enrico Dindo, Roberto Cominati, Scarlattine Teatro, Azar Teatro, the Rosa Ensemble from Holland and Renaud Garcia Fons.
Local participants will include The Cosmos Ensemble, Cikka Grima and her Puerto Flamenco Group, French horn player Etienne Cutajar, and actors Pino Scicluna and Peter Busuttil. Tickets are available online from maltaticket.com, or from any of the following outlets in Malta and Gozo: Exotique, Agenda, Vodafone, Bookends and Newskiosk. For more information log on to www.maltaculture.com and www.maltaarts-festival.com
The Life Model: Between Nude and Naked
3 – 31 July at No. 68 St Lucia Street, Valletta
Times: Monday to Friday: 10am – 1pm and 2pm – 6pm
Saturday & Sunday: 10am – 1pm
A Visual Arts Exhibition involving different media. The participating artists are Vince Briffa, Antony Calleja, Jeni Caruana, Patrick Dalli, Alexandra Pace, Raphael Vella, Astrid Steinbrecher (Germany), Zygimantas Augustinas (Lithuania), and the exhibition is curated by Patrick J Fenech.
MUSIC
All Piazzolla! The Music of Astor Piazzolla for Cello and Strings
2 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard in Valletta at 9.30 pm
Mendelssohn Chamber Music Recital Commemorating the bicentennial of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s birth
3 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard in Valletta at 9.30pm
20th Century Wind Quintet Music
Cosmos Ensemble
4 July at the Auberge de Castille Courtyard in Valletta at 8.30pm
Ira Losco and band
9 July at The Yacht Club area, The Grand Excelsior Hotel, Valletta at 7pm
Ira Losco and her band will be playing a full electric set alongside UK band ‘Craine’. The event has been organised by the Charity ‘Inspire’ in aid of Razzett Tal-Hbiberija and The Eden Foundation and also includes a number of VIP guests such as the whole team of Sheffield United FC and possible MTV artists also hanging out. Ticket Price for this event is e10. Tickets are available online from www.jaggedhouse.com (where you can buy and download Ira Losco tracks, albums, merchandise and tickets from the comfort of your home), The Excelsior Hotel, TeamSport (B’kara) and Inspire’s premises at M’scala and Bulebel.
Horn Trio Recital
9 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard in Valletta at 9.30pm
Györgi Ligeti – Trio for Horn Violin and Piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending
Johannes Brahms – Trio for Horn, Violin, and Piano in E flat Major
Arditti Quartet in Concert
11 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard in Valletta at 9.30pm
Anticantata
12-13 July at the Old Opera House Ruins at 9pm
Music Theatre Installation
Rosa Ensemble
Vocals/Performance: Lizzy Timmers, Voices: Sevil Aydin, Ron Bunzl, Izumi Furuta, Kees Hulst, Rob List, Bert Luppes, Raj Mohan, Esther Mugambi, Roos Ouwehand, Sahand Sahebdivani, Sandra Singh, Cora Schmeiser. Sound/technique: Thomas Koopmans, Daniel Stan.
New Quartet Linea Del Sur
21 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard in Valletta at 9.30pm
Calleja Bolton
19 July at the Luxol grounds, St Andrews at 8.30pm
For the first time in their careers Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja and American singer Michael Bolton will give the Maltese public a unique concert, organised by NnG promotions. The two will be singing solo pieces as well as duets together. Joseph Calleja and Micheal Bolton will be joined by soprano Tatiana Lisnic. Mr Calleja and other famous local artists will be performing on the night.
For this concert, there will be five categories of tickets – Platinum (e200), Gold circle (e150), Silver circle (e110), Bronze (e70) and general standing (e35). Further information can be obtained from www.nngpro-motions.com.
You can also get tickets for Calleja-Bolton Live at Luxol at various outlets such as Exotique (VSC Ltd.), Agenda Bookshop, Bookends, Newskiosk, and Vodafone or www.maltaticket.com.
Malta Jazz Festival
16, 17, 18 July at Ta’ Liesse, Valletta
With the Jazz Festival returning to the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts and featuring such influential artists as John Scofield, Brad Mehldau, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Miguel Zenon, this year’s edition promises three days of world class Jazz. Guitar legend John Scofield will return to the Malta Jazz Festival with The Piety Street Band, his latest project. Brad Mehldau, a performer who has redefined the sound of the piano trio, is set to open the festival on Thursday 16 July and is set to be one of the year’s highlights.
The festival will also offer Salsa and Afro-Cuban music performed by Grammy Award winning, virtuoso flutist, Orlando Maraca Valle. Maltese talent will be represented by Dominic Galea and Oliver Degabriele’s respective trios. Award-winning alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon, one of the leading voices in the New York Jazz scene will close the festival on Saturday 18 July following captivating Bossa Nova performances by Brazilian singer and pianist Eliane Elias as well as mesmerising Jazz guitar renditions by Kurt Rosenwinkel accompanied by Eric Revis and Rodney Green.
This year’s installment of the Jazz Festival, restored to its home at Ta’ Liesse, promises to reclaim the glory of past editions. The entrance is near Ta’ Liesse Church. Tickets may be purchased from www.maltaticket.com. There are two sections: Gold and Silver. The Jazz Festival’s official website is www.maltajazzfestival.org
The Farsons Great Beer Festival 2009
24 July - 2 August at Ta’ Qali Park, 8pm onwards
Held at Ta’Qali Park, the Farsons Great Beer Festival features 40 live performances on two stages, 15 bars, a beer drinking competition and countless brews to try. Food stalls and a kids’ playground make the event suitable for families. It’s that time of year all beer drinkers and music lovers have been waiting for! Take a refreshing sip from your cold pint, let your hair down and enjoy great moments with your friends and family under the clear summer skies. Free parking. More information at www.farsons.com/beerfestival.
THEATRE
Barroco Roll
Street Theatre Performance by Azar Teatro
3 – 4 July in Republic Street, Valletta at 10.30am
Hänsel & Gretel
A Fairytale Opera by Die Märchenhafte Opern-compagnie
6 – 7 July at the President’s Palace Courtyard in Valletta at 9.30pm
“King” J. Lear
14-15 July at Argotti Gardens in Floriana at 9pm
A theatre project based on Shakespeare’s King Lear by the Laboratorio Permanente di Ricerca sull’Arte dell’Attore and Scarlattine Teatro with Peter Busuttil, Katia Capato, Giulietta De Bernardi, Alessandro Dell’Atti. Text based on Shakespeare by Marco Gobetti and Domenico Castaldo. Performance in Italian/Maltese.
Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors
22 – 24 July at Argotti Gardens, Floriana at 9pm
A Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Production directed by Rebecca Gatward, designed by Liz Cooke and composed by Alex Silverman with choreography by Sian Williams.
A small troupe of travelling players breathe new life into this delightfully anarchic play. Fast, furious and extremely funny, eight talented actors reinvent renaissance touring theatre for the 21st century with Shakespeare’s greatest farce.
DANCE
Triana 41010
5 and 6 July at Argotti Gardens in Floriana at 9pm
Puerto Flamenco with Francesca Grima, Jesus Herrera, Antonio Castro “Antoñete”, Tamara Lopez Creo, Jose Guerrero “El Tremendo”, Eduardo Trasierra, Andrej Vujicic.
Puerto Flamenco premieres the full version of its latest production Triana 41010. The work draws a vital spark from the legendary bohemian suburb of Seville and the company’s postal address. Triana, the cradle of flamenco, toreros and all things Andalusian, has also been a home for the company directors Francesca Grima and Andrej Vujicic for the past 10 years, and now they wish to pay it a tribute. A feast for the senses, the production swings madly from relentless artful merrymaking to awe-inspiring solemnity, abstracting the colourful feasts, incense-laden religious pilgrimages and a day-to-day vitality so particular to this enchanting corner of the world. Be prepared for the magic of flamenco to cast its spell here too.
The event will take place over two nights as part of the Malta Arts Festival. Tickets e15 available from www.maltaticket.com, Agenda Bookshop, Exotique outlets, Newskiosk and Bookends. For more information visit www.maltaartsfestival.com, www.myspace.com/puertoflamencospace, www.puertoflamenco.com.
Les Âmes Frères
10 July at Argotti Gardens in Floriana at 9pm
La Compagnie Julien Lestel
Dancers: Julien Lestel, Gilles Porte and Choreography by: Julien Lestel
EVENTS
Marsovin Summer Wine Festival
A feast of wine, food and Mediterranean culture
3 – 5 July at Hastings Gardens in Valletta from 7.30pm onwards
Strada
Wine, Food, and Art
10 – 13 July at South Street in Valletta at 7.30pm
CINEMA
I Can’t Think Straight
16 July at St James Cavalier, Valletta at 9pm
Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian origin prepares for an elaborate wedding with her Jordanian fiancé, when she encounters Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend Ali. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other but the attraction is immediate. Tala’s feisty nature provokes Leyla out of her shell and soon both women reveal their feelings for each other. But Tala is not ready to accept the implications of the choice her heart has made and escapes back to Jordan where her chain-smoking high-brow mother finishes preparations for an ostentatious wedding. As family members descend and the wedding day approaches, simmering family tensions come to boiling point and the pressure mounts for Tala to be true to herself.
Bookings for St James Cavalier in Valletta can be made on boxoffice@sjcav.org or by Tel. 2122-3200. This information is correct at the time of printing.
Compiled by Erika Brincat: ebrincat@independent.com.mt
