Gozo's Gaulitanus Choir very recently returned from Poland where it was on its 22nd venture abroad. Indeed, between the 6th and the 10th December, the choir was participating in the 8th edition of the Prof Jozef Swider International Festival of Music. This choir's first ever trip to Poland was a result of a collaboration with the Silesian Chamber Choir Ad Libitum and its artistic director Izabella Zielecka-Panek, who is also the artistic director of the Jozef Swider Festival.
Led by its musical director Colin Attard, the Gaulitanus Choir gave 3 full-scale concerts on its own, and, in line with its ambassadorial role, the repertoire consisted exclusively of Maltese music, mostly in the Maltese language. Yet again, the choice of the Maltese repertoire - which was always introduced and given a context by the maestro himself - scored a great success with the audiences who attended the concerts and who even afforded standing ovations.
The compositions performed varied from sacred excerpts (in Latin) to semi-religious and semi-folkloristic ones (in Maltese). Colin Attard's compositions topped the bill with his Magnificat, the Sanctus and Agnus Dei from the Missa Brevis in honorem Joannis Pauli II, 2 excerpts from the oratorio Gużeppi ta' Nazaret, Ninni ... Ninni, as well as the 2 hymns Is-Sultana tal-Paċi and Warda Sbejħa tar-Rebbiegħaall performed. Pierre Louis Attard featured with his O Salutaris Hostia, Giuseppe Caruana with his haunting hymns Fil-Ħlewwa ta' Mejju, and the Innu ta' Filgħodu and the Innu ta' Filgħaxija (as arranged for 'a cappella' chorus by C. Attard) and Carmelo Pace with his typical bouncy semi-folkloristic unaccompanied choral works Lapsi and L-Imnarja.
The choir's principal soloist was soprano Annabelle Zammit, with soprano Georgina Gauci, soprano Antonella Portelli, tenor Christian Tanti and bass Ian Grech sharing other solo lines.
The choir's first concert was held in the historical Baroque Hall of the Monastery of the Bernardine Fathers in very central Krakow. The second was held in the Evangelical-Augsburg Church in Ustroǹ. At the end of this performance, the Gaulitanus Choir was joined by some members of the Silesian Chamber Choir Ad Libitum for a joint rendition of the Polish number Ojkowski Dom. The members of the two choirs then shared a dinner at the parish hall, before moving on to the renowned Browar Ustroǹ where, hosted by the brewery's management, they spent the late evening tasting the unique beers and distillates.
The third concert was held at the beautiful Church of the Guardian Angel in Gorzyce. Here the choir was hosted, even for lunch and snacks, by the Gorzyce Cultural Centre and its director Bibianna Dawid. To acknowledge the audience's and the hosts's very enthusiastic response the choir afforded an encore, the Polish song Plyniesz Olzo. The Gaulitanus's artistic commitments came to an end with the festival's grand finale. Held at the very big Church of Jesus in Cieszyn, the festival's home, this featured 11 other choirs - some of which really top-notch - from Slovakia, Latvia, Ukraine and Poland itself. This final night opened with all the participating choirs joining forces in the Polish song Plyniesz Olzo, before each choir presented a number on its own. The Gaulitanus here performed a medley of Carmelo Pace's semi-folkloristic works.
Notwithstanding the several artistic commitments and rehearsals involved, the Gaulitanus Choir was also in for many culturally-enriching experiences, touring Krakow, Auschwitz, Cieszyn itself - a historical border town, half Polish and half Czech -, as well as crossed over to the Czech Republic visiting Ostrava and its surroundings.
The allure of this particular concert tour will perhaps remain highlighted by the very heavy snowy conditions prevalent throughout all the visit - indeed an anticipated 'White Christmas'!
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