The 12th edition of the Malta International Organ Festival opens on Thursday 20 November with a concert that unites musicians from Ukraine, Italy and Malta in a celebration of shared Baroque heritage. The performance takes place at the Collegiate Church of St Paul Shipwreck in Valletta, the same church where the Maltese composer Girolamo Abos was baptised in 1715.

The opening programme features the complete Stabat Mater by Abos, written in five movements and rarely performed in Malta. This will be accompanied by a selected extract from the Stabat Mater by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, offering the audience a reflection on two interpretations of the same devotional text from the Neapolitan Baroque tradition.

The performance will be delivered by the Kyiv Baroque Consort from Ukraine, under the direction of Italian maestro Nancy Milesis Romano. They will be joined by the Festival's string ensemble led by Italian violinist Matteo Colombo, with Maltese organist Ramona Zammit Formosa performing on continuo organ.

Girolamo Abos, born in Valletta on 16 November 1715, was a prominent Maltese-Italian composer of both operatic and sacred music. He trained in Naples under the esteemed composers Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante, becoming part of the influential Neapolitan school that also shaped the music of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. After establishing his reputation as an operatic composer in Naples, Rome and London, he was appointed Maestro al Cembalo at the Italian Theatre in London in 1756. Abos later returned to Naples to teach at the Conservatorio della Pietà de' Turchini, where he influenced future composers such as Giovanni Paisiello. Across his career, he composed 14 operas, including the acclaimed Tito Manlio, before turning his focus to sacred works, writing masses and litanies in his final years. He died in Naples in May 1760.

According to Joseph Lia, Artistic Director of the Festival, this concert not only brings Abos' music back to its point of origin but also underlines Malta's connection to an important era in European musical history. Presenting Abos alongside Pergolesi in the church where he was baptised highlights a cultural continuity that extends beyond borders and centuries, especially since both composers were pupils of, or strongly influenced by, the celebrated Neapolitan master Francesco Durante.

Tickets for the opening concert are available at www.maltainternationalorganfestival.com.

The Malta International Organ Festival is proudly supported by Visit Malta, APS Bank, Biz Consult Ltd, Festivals Malta, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the German Embassy.