The much-acclaimed oratorio Pawlu ta’ Malta is being presented at St Theresa’s Sanctuary, Birkirkara, next Friday, 8 February, at 7pm. The public is invited to attend.

Pawlu ta’ Malta (music by Mro. Prof. Charles Camilleri and lyrics by Prof. Oliver Friggieri) is the first oratorio in Maltese, and was first performed in 1985. It has been a great success whenever it was represented in various local churches since then, and was also broadcast on Vatican Radio. It is also available on CD. The pleasant and moving music expresses with simplicity and forcefulness the various contrasting moods, which the poetic text adopts so as to narrate in a modern manner the shipwreck of St Paul in Malta. The oratorio reconstructs the Biblical event in all its drama and mystery, seeking also to render it relevant to contemporary life. Music and words blend together to produce one of the more successful works in recent times.

This performance, sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and Bank of Valletta, is being organised on the occasion of the year the Catholic Church is dedicating to St Paul. It is being presented under the patronage of the Prime Minister Dr Lawrence Gonzi.

The orchestra and choir of the Collegium Musicum will be under the direction of Mro. Dr Dion Buhagiar and Mario Bisazza will be leading the orchestra. The soloists are soprano Claire Caruana, tenor Frans Mangion and baritone Alfred Camilleri. The narrator is Dr Philip Farrugia Randon. A souvenir booklet with the full text of the oratorio will be available prior to the performance. “The choir and orchestra of Collegium Musicum are intensely making the necessary preparations to give their best at this performance, and we hope to provide an occasion really worthy of the event it commemorates,” said Mro Dion Buhagiar. “I am very pleased to have the opportunity of directing such a well known work, and I am confident we will vividly convey a message of faith and peace. This work has always moved the hearts of people and it is a hopeful message indeed.”

“Charles Camilleri and I have worked together with the aim of producing a work which expresses the basic unity of faith and culture traditionally characterising Malta. The enthusiasm with which this oratorio has been repeatedly received is a proof that the roots of our identity are still strong,” Mr Friggieri commented.