Two weeks of gorgeous music make up the fourth edition of the Valletta International Baroque Festival which runs from 16 to 30 January and includes 25 events over 15 days in nine different Valletta venues.

Produced and managed by Teatru Manoel the Festival has leapt from strength to strength since its inception in 2013 and now attracts a strong local support and an international audience happy to spend a week or two in the inimitable atmosphere of Valletta, our tiny but impressive capital city.

An international audience is attracted by a commensurately internationally recognised galaxy of star performers; household names within and outside the baroque world. Jordi Savall and Philippe Herreweghe not to mention harpsichord wizard Mahan Esfahani are stars of great repute and who have delighted audiences for decades with their inimitable interpretations of the baroque idiom.

This festival, like the previous ones, incorporates an eclectic variety of music including pianistic transcriptions and 20th century orchestral music "inspired by the baroque", Respighi and Stravinsky being cases in point.

Two Requiems, one by Bonaventura Rubino and the other by Niccolo Jommelli have strong Maltese connections as the manuscript of the first was found in the Cathedral Museum Archive at Mdina while that of the Neapolitan Jommelli incorporates responses by Maltese composers that have been researched by Ghislieri Musica in the same archive.

Local performers include Joanne Camilleri, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and VIBE (Valletta International Baroque Ensemble) which is the resident ensemble of the Festival and performing in two concerts (23 and 26 January).

The festival also has events specifically designed for children including a treasure hunt round the theatre.

Once all the concerts are over the festival ends with the very popular Baroque Festival Ball when the Manoel is transformed into a ballroom and everyone has the opportunity to dress up and dance to music provided by a string quartet and band.

For more details and to book visit www.vallettabaroquefestival.com.mt, www.teatrumanoel.com.mt