After a weekend of celebrations in Berlin and in Malta to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaty, another event will be held on Tuesday at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.
That is when the National Orchestra, directed by Mro Michael Laus, will perform Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in a concert that is being seen as the highlight of the celebrations in Malta.
The concert will feature the Maltese soloists Miriam Gauci and Claire Massa as well as the German singers Reiner Goldberg and Roman Grübner. The choir part will be performed by the Collegium Musicum and the University Vocal Ensemble under the direction of Mro Dion Buhagiar.
Presenting a cheque to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, German Ambassador Karl Andreas von Stenglin said the event was a true example of the 50th anniversary slogan Flimkien.
“The European Union has come a long way from Churchill’s ideas of a ‘United States of Europe’. The founding fathers of the EU had always had their objectives very clear, with the Treaty of Rome 50 years ago aiming to achieve ‘an ever-closer union among the European peoples’,” Ambassador von Stenglin said.
The various developments throughout the decades saw the focus of the then European Economic Community shift from the merely economic to also embrace the political and social aspects as its core operations, without which the EU could not succeed.
Europe has gone through major changes.
The ambassador said that as a German citizen, he could not forget that less than 20 years ago, his own country was divided – physically, politically, economically and ideologically – as was the whole of Europe. The breakdown of the iron curtain had made possible achievements and landmarks previously thought inconceivable.
“As Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday, ‘Europe is much more than dairy cows and the Chemicals Directive’. Culture is a living principle that should be cherished and shared.
“The MCC concert will encompass this principle. The European anthem, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, is a clear symbol of the EU’s human face and of intercultural understanding, tolerance and acceptance,” Mr von Stenglin said.
“The concert was only made possible through a joint effort of the German EU Presidency, the Maltese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the main sponsor, Bank of Valletta and various German companies, Lufthansa Malta Aircraft-Leasing, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Finance, Lufthansa German Airlines, Lufthansa Malta Holding, Lufthansa Technik Malta, Oiltanking Malta Ltd, Playmobil Malta Ltd and Würth Ltd (Malta),” he added.
The concert will start at 7.30pm. Bookings may be made on tel.: 2559-5751 or by email to: [email protected]. Tickets are available for Lm12, Lm10, Lm8, Lm6.