The cross-fertilisation of culture is certainly a remarkable characteristic of the Malta Arts Festival for this summer. Indeed there could be no better means than to enhance the inter-mingling of multi-national talents in order to spur the dynamics of universal arts. This is so evident in this year’s rich and most varied programme of the festival’s cultural events but moreover in a particular event which promises to be a prominent highlight of the calendar.
On Wednesday, the prestigious courtyard of the Grandmaster’s Palace will host an equally prestigious event which will include a leading Swedish orchestra conducted by a foremost Austrian director in a concert of popular classical music featuring Malta’s own soprano Lydia Caruana and a rising star tenor from the Ukraine.
No doubt soprano Lydia Caruana needs no introduction to the Maltese audience especially now after her highly successful performance with veteran tenor Jose Carreras only last month and also her participation at the Andrea Bocelli concert in December. Lydia’s popularity is at present rising rapidly also on the international field further to her recent success with Joseph Calleja at the much acclaimed Rathauskonzerte Series in Regensburg and earlier this year with the Musici dell’Accademia at the Accademia di Bologna.
This time, Lydia Caruana will sing alongside tenor Dmytro Popov, the second prize winner of this year’s world-famous Placido Domingo’s Operalia. After his participation in Verdi’s Traviata with the renowned stage director Jonathan Miller in Norway in September 2004, Popov has never looked back. He was immediately engaged for the role of Alfredo by the Norwegian National Opera and thereafter for the role of De Grieux in Manon Lescaut. His major performances include Kuragin in Prokofiev’s War and Peace, Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugeny Onegin and Vodemon in Iolanta, Vladimir in Borodin’s Knaj Igor, Lykov in Rimsky – Korsakov’s Tharen’s Bride and to mention his more popular repertoire, he has played the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Enzo in Ponchielli’s Gioconda, Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and Don Jose in Bizet’s Carmen. He is at present the leading soloist at the Ukraine National Opera in Kiev.
The Berwald Symphony Orchestra, made up of members of the Stockholm Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Manfred Honeck will accompany the soloists in a popular repertoire of works by Gounod, Verdi, Puccini, Bernstein and Tchaikowsky.
Many will remember one of the highlights of the events which marked the celebrations for Malta’s accession to the EU. Indeed The Blessing of Europe, featuring Mozart’s Coronation Mass under the direction of Manfred Honeck still remains in the memories of all those who flocked to St John’s Co-Cathedral for this memorable occasion.
Manfred Honeck has not forgotten Malta either and for the past three years since that first brief visit, he has been trying to fit yet another visit into his very busy artistic schedule. Fortunately the Malta Arts Festival has finally presented the right opportunity and Maestro Honeck will be back with members of the Berwald Symphony Orchestra of Stockholm to conduct a Concert of Popular Classical Music on Wednesday in the Palace Courtyard, also featuring Dimitri Popov, the up-coming tenor emerging from Placido Domingo’s Operalia where only last week he placed a prestigious second and our own Lydia Caruana.
Honeck himself has, since his last appearance in Malta, pursued his star-studded career with unceasing success. Suffice it to mention that only recently, the world-famous Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Manfred Honeck as its Music Director for the next three years.
Honeck began his career as a musician with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in 1983, first as a violinist and then as a violist over a 10-year period. It was there, while performing under some of the world’s most important and respected conductors, that he chose to begin his career on the podium. Honeck recently concluded his tenure as Music Director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he held from 2000 to 2006.
In addition to his new position with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Honeck is also Music Director Designate of the Staatsoper of Stuttgart and Principal Guest Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic. His guest engagements have included the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munich, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester of Berlin, the Gewandhausorche-ster of Leipzig, the Staatskapelle of Dresden, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre Philarmonique de Radio France, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic USA.