This year’s edition of the BOV Opera Festival kicks off on 5 March with Gioacchino Rossini’s Cenerentola.

Bank of Valletta have been helping as sponsors for nine years and without their financial assistance “we would not be able to create these operas – they are contributing to society through these cultural events. In fact, March has become synonymous with the opera festival and this year it shall be held from 5 to 12 March,” said Manoel Theatre chairman Peter Fenech during the festival’s launch.

BOV CEO Tony Depasquale said the bank had always been enthusiastic about the festival.

Announcing the full programme of events Dr Fenech said this was the first time the story of Cinderella was being staged in Malta and it was being performed by the Teatro Borgatti di Cento from Italy, with the participation of the Orkestra Nazzjonali conducted by Prof. Michael Laus.

The Manoel is not the only stage hosting the BOV Opera Festival this year, he added.

In collaboration with the British Council, the Museum of Archeology in Valletta will be welcoming I Fagiolini on 9 March – a British ensemble best known for Renaissance and contemporary music who will be taking the audience on a passionate journey through the rich variety of Claudio Monteverdi’s opera arias.

The festival will also include a double bill of Giacomo Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Puccini’s birth, and Nina Rota’s Notte di un Nevrastenico with the collaboration of Italy’s Operalaboratorio, which are to be held on 10 and 12 March at the Manoel Theatre. There will also be a rendition of La Divina Commedia by Dante.

As in the past two years the BOV Opera Festival is also being supported by Valletta Fund Management Ltd and Middlesea Valletta Life Assurance Co. Ltd.