These are my last comments about The Malta Summer Festival: Reimagining Opera which ran from 13-21 July and was such a success. The whole festival was a collaboration between local and foreign practitioners to render opera more accessible and in an innovative way. One of its aims was to ensure "that the festival acts as a bridge promoting Malta as a hub for arts and culture whilst leaving a legacy to the country's creative ecology." I am so glad we are moving beyond the Baroque Festival as most baroque music is simply not to everyone's taste. I for one like very little baroque music. Now we have two festivals. Excellent.
The Three Little Pigs launched the Festival. The music is from Mozart's operatic oeuvres and therefore light enough for children. One of my daughters took along her ten-year-old son who is just starting guitar lessons and they reported back saying how they both loved it. He could not understand however, why members of the orchestra do not do the tuning before they arrive on stage. I don't know what she replied. I wouldn't have known what to say myself. I must google it.
The music was in the hands of The Malta Youth Orchestra under the baton of its artistic director, José García Gutiérrez.
If it means that in the future a few of those children who attended, when they hear the word 'opera' will respond positively and want to find out more then progress would have been made to build future audiences. In one of her many interviews, that evening's soprano, Tatiana Lisnic (also a devotee of Edith Piaf let me add) had encouraged parents to instill a love of opera in their children as 'it gives them another life packed with emotion.' Indeed for what is life without emotion?
Children and grown ups accompanying them enjoyed a delightful evening watching ‘The Three Pigs’. Photo by Darren Agius
An evening with Donizetti was another fine evening with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra under the baton of Iván López-Reynoso.
When it comes to Gaetano Donizetti the only operas that come to mind are Lucia di Lammermoor and its famous mad scene and L'eliser d'amore. I remember my mother talking about La Figlia del Regimento. I was too young to understand but it has remained in my subconscious together with The Barratts of Wimpole Street which I knew was a favourite film of hers.
The evening at Fort St Elmo was largely taken up by Anna Bolena whose very name spells tragedy. The second of Henry VIII's wives he soon dispensed with her and substituted her with Jane Seymour. In no time he had married eight women. Scoundrel.
We had two international stars singing that evening, soprano Tatiana Lisnic who has real class and a natural elegance and the tenor Celso Albelo "one of the most courted tenors on the international opera scene." I particularly loved his aria as Percy Vivi tu te ne scongiuro from Anna Bolena. The amplitude of his fine voice matched that of his figure. His interpretation of Una furtiva lagrima from Elisir, which we never get tired of hearing, was truly moving. Vittorio Grigolo had sung it at the Opera Gala. One thing about Grigolo, he is extrovert and makes it a point of involving the audience.
Tatiana sang several arias from Anna Bolena, Piangete voi being my favourite and from Lucrezia Borgia, Com'è Bello. So moving.
Lisnic and Albelo made a first class vocal team. Ciel! Che veggio from Lucrezia Borga was so full of emotion.
A friend used to tell me: "You don't have to go to the theatre to listen to good music. You can have your own private performance in your own sitting room, feet up, with decent equipment and good recordings. There you can smoke without making the singers cough and the bar never closes. Moreover you avoid the parking problem."
The smoking bit didn't console me as I gave up smoking a long time ago, after my husband said I smelt like an ashtray. But back then smoking was considered to be positively beneficial. 'Craven A for your throat's sake' and a number of opera singers actually advertised for tobacco companies. The glamorous and velvet-voiced bass, Ezio Pinza, not only won a legion of adoring fans for his performance in Don Giovanni and for singing Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific but was rarely seen without a cigarette, in a holder of course, clamped between his teeth. Then there was K.G. Lang encouraging us to 'Puff, Puff Puff your cares away.'
All the comforts attached when listening at home are not going to make me change my mind. I still believe there is nothing better than a live performance whenever possible. Once I have to use a Zimmer frame then we shall see.
No expenses were spared for this festival. Choosing Fort St Elmo as location was also inspiring. These were evenings of quality from beginning to end. I hope I shall be alive and well enough to go to another Festival next summer.
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