Two major cultural activities are being organised by the Sliema Philharmonic Society in the last weekend of January.

By general request, on Saturday, 27 January the second edition of the Serata all’Operetta (Operetta Evening) will be held at 7.30pm in the Cultural Performance Hall of the Society, Palazzo Sliema, 34 St Trophimus Street, Sliema, co-ordinated by Mro Joe Fenech.

Seven local singers will interpret popular selections from the operettas The Merry Widow, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Il Paese del sorriso, Il Conte di Lussemburgo by Franz Lehar; Eine Nacht in Venedig by Johann Strauss; La Principessa della Czarda by Emmerich Kalmann; The Belle of New York by Gustaf Kerker; Cin-Ci-La by Carlo Lombardo and Virgilio Ranzato and other excerpts from the Maltese operetta It-Twajba Suzanna by Jean Gilbert.

On Sunday, 28 January at 7.30pm, the Sliema Youth Big Band, conducted by Mro Sigmund Mifsud, will give a special concert at the Sir Temi Zammit auditorium, University of Malta. Local pop stars will join the youth ensemble to perform selections from musicals, film themes and popular songs such as soundtracks The Incredibles and Mission Impossible; In the Mood by Glenn Miller; James Brown’s Papa’s got a brand new bag; Blues Brothers’ Minnie the moocher and California Girls by the Beach Boys.

The Sliema Philharmonic Society has also announced that the Concert for Europe by the Sliema Band, conducted by Mro Ronnie Debattista, will be held on Saturday, 24 March at 7pm at the Sir Temi Zammit auditorium, University of Malta, with the special participation of a leading tenor and a pop star from Croatia.

Mro Sigmund Mifsud, a leading trumpet player with the National Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Sliema Band, will perform a special arrangement for solo trumpet.