Most days of the year, the old Opera House lies peacefully in ruins, a silent bystander to the throngs that flock to Valletta every day, only to abandon it later on in the evening, turning the city into possibly Europe’s quietest capital, at least by night. But this was certainly not the case on the last weekend of July when, for two nights, the Opera House once again found itself the centre of attention, hosting the second “National Orchestra Goes Pop” concert.
Sponsored by Vodafone, this year’s concert featured an array of guest singers, from fresh upcoming talents to some of Malta’s top artistes, but perhaps the biggest star had to be the orchestra itself, the versatility of which was thoroughly tested as much by the featured artistes as by director Sigmund Mifsud’s breezy arrangements, particularly the funked-up take of The Beatles’ Lady Madonna. The orchestra also excelled during composer Alex Vella Gregory’s Kemmuna, bringing out its Mediterranean timbre and rhythmic eclecticism without losing any of its classical essence.
The first half of the concert on Sunday was mainly given over to new faces Tara Zammit and Pia Zammit. Both singers offered worthy enough performances, with Tara sounding her best on Astrud Gilberto’s Girl From Ipanema. Pia’s Fever was by far more effective than her second offering. The backing singers, unfortunately, failed to make an impression throughout, looking every bit as nervous as they sounded! Kris Spiteri’s take on the Fab Four’s A Day In The Life was brilliant, and credit is again certainly due to the orchestra, that executed the original version’s cacophonic interludes to a tee. Another song definitely worth mentioning is the cover of Moondance. Sung by the National Orchestra’s own percussionist Daniel Cauchi, it was near-perfect and oozed much of the emotion and passion in Van Morrison’s original version.
The second part began with music from the Gladiator soundtrack, and was followed by Winter Moods’ Ivan Grech, who was accompanied by guitarist Jeremy Micallef and drummer James Vella. He belted out two of U2’s grandest songs in (his own) style, topping off the set with a gripping version of Everyday Song, quite possibly his best composition to date. Chiara’s set was based on Christina Aguilera’s The Voice Within and the anthemic Beautiful, which she sang to perfection, even sounding better (I thought) than on her own Angel. As promising as she may be, Tara’s Waterloo nevertheless paled in compari-son, and was clearly out of its league in the second part.
The night was rounded off with the National Orchestra’s Ludwig with a Twist and Bohemian Rhapsody, making sure everyone went home with the upbeat afterthought of a good night out. There are, however, a few less rosy points to consider. For one, when the show is advertised as starting at 9pm, the audience should be on time and ensure they are seated before that. Secondly, the seating left much to be desired in terms of comfort, cleanliness and leg-space and, last but not least, while presenters Giselle and Sander did a pretty good job, some of the scripted lines did sound a bit strained at times. On the other hand, Giselle’s nifty dance number did prove she is a girl of many talents. Overall, however, it was really all about the music and in the end, that was what everyone there got – a good night out at a fantastic venue that will hopefully be restored to its former and even more fantastic glory for more nights like this!
Michael Bugeja