A concert featuring the Medina Saxophone Quartet and the ArtiBrass Ensemble will be held as part of Evenings on Campus on Monday 24 July.

The term SaxyBrass was coined by the organisers of this concert not only to highlight the sonoric blend of saxophones and brass but also to give a hint of the concert’s sequence.

In fact, the first part of the concert will commence with a composition by Philip Ciantar for solo alto saxophone called Istikhbar. In this composition, the composer evokes the sound of the Arab ghayta (shawm) and its role in announcing the beginning of a nawba (a North African suite of Andalusian origin). In Istikhbar, the performer is free to improvise a melodic line on a set of pitches prescribed by the composer. Istikhbar combines Ciantar’s research in North African music, and Andalusian music, particularly in Libya, with his strong interest in musical composition.

Presented as a free-standing composition, Istikhbar will announce the coming of Godo’, symbolically expressed throughout the evening by the cheerful music provided by the two participating ensembles.

Istikhbar will be performed by Joseph Vella, Malta’s leading specialist in the classical playing of the saxophone. For five years, Vella studied the saxophone in France at the Conservatoire National de Region of Lyon and Poitiers. He also featured as a soloist in the Salon des Arts Festival (Bulgaria 2002), the Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyesi Festival (Turkey 2002), the ppIANISSIMO Festival (Bulgaria 2003) and, again, at the Salon des Arts Festival (France 2004). Vella is currently a saxophone teacher at the Johann Strauss School of Music in Valletta and responsible of the Medina Saxophone Quartet of which he is the founder. Following Vella’s interpretation of Istikhbar, the Medina Saxophone Quartet will perform pieces by Joplin, Gershwin, Street and Ellington among others. The Medina Saxophone Quartet was set up in 2001 so that four leading saxophonists would share their passion for saxophone playing and their love for music. The members of the Medina Saxophone Quartet are Christine Vella (soprano saxophone), Joseph Vella (alto saxophone), David Sammut (tenor saxophone) and Ivan Borg (tenor/baritone saxophone).

Since its formation, the quartet aimed at promoting music’s vast meaning through the expressive sound of the saxophone. For this purpose, the group had to render itself open to a wide repertoire ranging from classical to light music. In its performances, the quartet accentuates the lyrical, technical, expressive and tonal qualities of the saxophone which can adapt very well to all kinds of musical expression.

The climax of the quartet’s programme for this evening will be Duke Ellington’s Solitude. This piece is a hauntingly beautiful song which in its original form featured Ben Webster’s first solo as a member of Duke Ellington’s band. It is typical of the ballads we associate with Ivie Anderson, the great vocalist who toured with Ellington. The effectiveness with which Solitude spotlights a great singer’s warm sound will be captured by the saxophones’ rich tone qualities.

The second part of the concert will feature the ArtiBrass Ensemble directed by Philip Ciantar. The ensemble was set up in 2005 to aid in the local cultivation of a new approach to brass ensemble playing, perform Maltese compositions for brass and to combine performance with Maltese music research. The performances of the ArtiBrass Ensemble emphasise balance, stylistic interpretation and fine tone quality. On this occasion, this 11-piece ensemble (including percussion) will perform a wide range of musical styles ranging from compositions of Italian Renaissance composers to contemporary Maltese compositions such as John Galea’s Gaudeamus Fanfare. Another contemporary Maltese composition included in the programme will be The Village of “Ram”, a composition for brass and percussion composed by Philip Ciantar. Its programme will also include a 19th-century Maltese composition called Il-Polka ta’ l-Ghasfur.

This polka was originally composed for wind band by Andrea Borg (known as Mastru Indri Borg), the well-known blind composer and bandmaster associated (sometimes even pejoratively) with the Banda ta’ Indri. The polka was edited in 2003 by Frank Galea and, recently, adapted for brass by Philip Ciantar. Both the original manuscript and the edited version of the polka are property of the De Rohan Band of Zebbug.

The concert, which will come to an end with both ensembles joining forces for the last item of the programme, should be of interest to a wide range audience including woodwind and brass musicians, scholars of Maltese music, banda aficionados, as well as all those who have at heart the performance of both old and contemporary Maltese compositions. This concert should also aspire for more interest in the research and revival of popular compositions falling within the boundary of folk and art Maltese music.

Tickets can be purchased from Sapienza’s Bookshop, Valletta; Agenda Bookshop, On Campus; at the door or by

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