How did your association with the Corinthia Group come about after your retirement from public service?

I was approached by the secretary of the Group who informed me that the chairman, Mr Alfred Pisani, wanted to meet me.  I had never ever met him or spoken to him before.  During my meeting with him, he invited me to join his Group. 

I know you're a music lover as I have regularly seen you at concerts. Am I correct in understanding that you were involved in the creation of the Palace Concerts?

Yes, the series of Palace Concerts was my idea.  I am a music lover and have been following the local and international classical music scene for a long time.  Villa Corinthia offers elegance refinement and excellent acoustics making it an ideal venue for intimate musical performances. I compiled an appealing but also challenging concert programme and presented it to both my chairman, Mr Alfred Pisani, and the general manager of Villa Corinthia, Ms Alexandra Pisani.  They bought into the idea and with the help of the great team at the Corinthia Palace hotel and the ongoing support of Mr Alfred Fabri and other persons, my paper started to take its life.

Now we are looking forward to our seventh concert on the 29 August 2026; a beautiful concert of the classics we cherish accompanied by good food and quality wines.  And people can dance as well to their favourite waltzes and tangos.

What attracted you to this new role and, in particular, to the cultural dimension of Corinthia's activities?

This is not a new role for me. Certainly not at Corinthia. My role is that of director, concentrating mostly on economic and financial matters.  This is a voluntary aside on my part to which I contribute willingly because I firmly believe in giving people regular access to beautiful music and giving our deserving artists opportunities to perform.  

When the concerts were first proposed, what vision did you have for them?

The vision is very simple and mundane if I may call it so.

I wanted to contribute towards removing the wrong perception that many may have that classical music is way above them.  So, we are putting on very beautiful music that is pleasing and understandable to all.   That attracted people who have never been to a classical music concert before.  They enjoyed themselves and kept coming.  I am sure that they will grow with it and that, very soon, they will venture to bigger orchestral works and concerts. 

We also want to support our artists whether musicians or singers.  The best way to support and help them grow is to provide them with a platform and an opportunity to perform.  

Corinthia is an international group with a significant hotel presence in major international cities.  Many of these hotels are in historical buildings and believe me, many of these have extremely beautiful and well-appointed ballrooms and concert venues.   Eventually, these would provide an opportunity to showcase more local talent internationally. 

Our vision could be summarised in three words: engagement, access and opportunity.

Was there a particular moment or experience that convinced you that Malta needed a series such as the Palace Concerts?

I am a firm believer in chamber concerts.  In my past endeavours within the public service, I always made a case for more opportunities for our established and emerging musicians to play chamber music.  I also supported them.  Such opportunities give musicians the opportunity to develop and sharpen their skills, improve, strengthen their teamwork and gain the necessary experience and confidence to perform in larger ensembles. 

When I moved to Corinthia, with the support of my chairman and the management of Villa Corinthia, I found a fertile ground to create such a concert series with a view to giving the right opportunities and support to our musicians and other artists.  I believe that it is working and that we are laying the groundwork to build further.

How do you go about selecting artists and programmes?

We concentrate on talent, quality and excellence.   Those are our selection criteria.  That is also consistent with the ethos and culture of our group and therefore we cannot compromise on that.  The programmes are compiled using an iterative consultation process.  We give artists our vision.  They share their ideas; we share ours and together we build our programmes. 

Have there been any performances that remain especially memorable for you?

When you mix talent, quality and excellence together with the right management you get memorable experiences. All our events to date have been very satisfying experiences.  Our performers loved them, our audiences enjoyed them and our team is encouraged to do even better.  It is enjoyable and memorable experiences that keep you going.

What challenges did you face in establishing and sustaining such a high-quality concert series?

There are three specific challenges. 

The first is that we cannot lower our standards and therefore we must sometimes say no to some proposals for our concert series.  

The second is that we should continuously strive to ensure repertoire that is beautiful, accessible and understandable to our audiences.  One that also leads to incremental growth in music appreciation.  Creating a balanced repertoire, considering these attributes, is always a challenge.

The third is to continuously ensure the uniqueness of each of our concerts and to never fall into the temptation of creating a canned concert series that is recycled over time.  We do not want canned and recycled concerts.

In my considered opinion we cannot compromise on any of these without eroding the sustainability of our concert series.

How important is the setting of Corinthia Palace itself to the audience's experience?

The elegance, beauty, intimacy and good acoustics of Villa Corinthia and its serene setting within its lush gardens, provide a calming and relaxing environment that allow people to really appreciate the beauty of our performances and to enjoy them thoroughly.  Our audiences, our performers, the excellent food and the setting for our performances are together creating highly engaging and enjoyable experiences. These experiences will not likely be the same outside the setting of Villa Corinthia itself.  

You have spent much of your life in public service. What role do you think music and culture play in a healthy society?

Culture is the soul of our country.  Music is part of it.  If we neglect culture, we would be neglecting ourselves.  Culture enriches us personally and collectively and contributes to a heathier society.  Our culture has developed into its uniqueness from a mix of internal developments and external influences over the millennia.  It contributes substantially to making our country what it is and highly attractive for foreign direct investment.  Let's not fall into the trap of becoming an increasingly materially rich but culturally poor society.  At Corinthia we recognise the importance of culture and its authentic representation.  We support it and will continue to take active steps to sustain it.

Do you believe that cultural events can bring together people from different backgrounds and professions?

Yes, sure, without any shadow of a doubt.  In our case, we encourage social interaction of persons coming from diverse backgrounds over drinks and some good food both before and after each concert.  We organise our concerts this way so that each concert would become a holistic and enjoyable social experience as well.  People love it.

It is often said that attendance at classical music events is limited to a relatively small circle. How can we encourage wider participation, especially among younger people?

Participation in classical music events or other cultural experiences is one of the most discussed topics.  In my humble opinion, you encourage wider participation by removing long-held perceptions that such experiences are for some elite group.  In doing so, we must make our musical events both accessible, understandable and enjoyable.  In curating classical music concerts, we cannot forget that people also want to enjoy themselves. 

Have you noticed any changes in Maltese audiences and their appreciation of classical music over the years?

Our audiences are getting generally older while, unfortunately, the young are mostly absent.  That summarises the challenge we are facing in this area.

In your opinion, what responsibility do major private organisations such as Corinthia have towards culture and the arts?

Private enterprise contributes mostly to economic development and wealth creation.  However, apart from creating opportunities and wealth, private enterprise must also shoulder some social and environmental responsibilities.  Corinthia is working on all fronts.  Through its corporate social responsibility programme, it has a long track record in supporting culture and the arts.  The Palace Concert series is live testimony to this.

What place has music occupied in your own life?

Attendance to music and cultural events has always been important to me because it provides a counterbalance to my professional work.  I must say that this made my life richer and, sometimes, more bearable.

Do you play an instrument, or have you always been primarily a listener and supporter of music?

I am primarily a music listener and a theatre goer.  However, whenever I had the opportunity to do so, I always supported tangibly the cultural and the artistic sectors.

Looking back, what personal satisfaction has the Palace Concerts project given you?

It does give me and our team a great deal of satisfaction.  We are creating something that is both unique and sustainable while supporting tangibly our artistic community. Of course, in this regard, I must assign credit to where it is due.  Credit and much more is due to many, but here I would like to mention our chairman, Mr Alfred Pisani for his unstinting support, his wife, Ms Maria Pisani for her encouragement and constructive recommendations, Mr Alfred Fabri who manages part of our CSR programme for bearing with me, the general manager of the Corinthia Palace Hotel and her team for making this programme work and, of course, the excellent chefs at Francesco Mazzei's who provide the delicious and varied food regularly. 

Is there a particular artist or composer to whom you return time and again?

There are quite a few.  However, I do love Beethoven, Mahler, Shostakovich and Philip Glass.

What do you hope the Palace Concerts will contribute to Malta's cultural landscape in the years ahead?

If we keep exposing more non-concert goers to the beauty of classical and serious music by making them both accessible, understandable and enjoyable events, then we would be contributing our share to making our lives richer and more enjoyable.