DR MICHELLE CASTELLETTI
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
KULUR – DULUR
TRIQAT – XBIHAT
KYRIE ELEISON
IL-BANDA ĠEJJA
VIVA ID-DULURI
VIVA KRISTU RXOXT
PAVALJUNI
BANDALORI
KOTRA KULLIMKIEN
ARA L-VARA DIEĦLA
BOROM INĊENS FWIEĦAT
TABERNAKLU MŻEJJEN
ĊAPPĊPU - KANTAW
QUO VADIS? IL-ĦAJKU MA JAĦDIMX
DLAM
DULUR – KULUR
This glorious juxtaposition of the tradition and pageantry in our wonderful Mediterranean Island, with the poignancy and reflection of this capsule within the liturgical year. This inexplicable duality – the dichotomy of the Christian religion – wherein Christ’s triumphant magnificence is achieved through His Passion. The resplendence of everything around us on Easter and the darkness preceding this on Good Friday. The Three Palaces is always about contrast: of old and new, or the marriage of space and experience. This year, we have decided to give our followers a Spring edition – a weekend of celebration and reflection. As such, no other weekend would be more appropriate than that of the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, much-loved by all Maltese, and the celebration of Palm Sunday. This time of the year is a time when everyone comes together – be this through unwavering pride of their town or village decorating the streets, forming spectacular processions, and singing their hearts out in church, religious devotion, or a weekend for festivity. In these three days, I wanted to encapsulate this – firstly through the tenderness, tragedy, and pathos of the Pieta’, with a newly-commissioned dance which I asked to be choreographed to Pergolesi’s supplicant Stabat Mater; and next through the drama of the last minutes of Christ on the Cross, where I have had the privilege of curating a site-specific, interdisciplinary, immersive, and participatory performance at St John’s Co-Cathedral. Wrapped around this introspection is a feast of flag-throwers and trumpeters in the streets of our old and new capitals, Valletta and Mdina – a continuation of contrasts, of exuberance, of spectacle, of splendour, of thought.
BE PART OF THE EXPERIENCE
THE THREE PALACES
Organised by Festivals Malta, The Three Palaces festival focuses on the premise that “our ordinary is actually extraordinary”. In Malta, we are surrounded by magnificent buildings that we pass by every day and take in our stride, perhaps barely noticing their beauty. We embrace the philosophy that everyone should have access to our Heritage, Art and Culture. Audiences experience intimate performances in the grandeur of some of Malta’s finest palaces and indulge in forms of artistic expression that reflect the identity of the nation and beyond. Emerging artists perform alongside the finest established artists in Malta and internationally, thus celebrating this wonderful cultural melting pot that is the Mediterranean.
TICKETS
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Our Hospitality Partners & Sponsors
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari – silent film with live improvised music
27 October 2025 | 7pm
St Mary Magdelene's Church, Valletta
The festival opens on Monday, 27 October at the late c-16th Church of Santa María Maddalena in Valletta, with a haunting cinematic experience: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the silent German expressionist classic, will be brought to life through live improvisation by guitarist and composer Glen Montanaro.
Melomania: melos = music | mania = madness - solo violin & solo dance
28 October 2025 | 7pm
National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta
On Tuesday, 28 October, the Gran Salon at the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta hosts Melomania, a unique “danced concert” created by dancer/choreographer Stéphanie Brochard and baroque violinist Bojan Čičić. The performance spans centuries, culminating in Sally Beamish’s Intrada e Fuga and Bach’s Sonata No. 2 in A minor.
Chiaroscuro - an exhibition of paintings, conversations between darkness and light (Exhibition Opening Night)
29 October 2025 | 6:30pm
Grand Master's Palace, Valletta
Wednesday, 29 October sees the opening of Chiaroscuro, a visual arts exhibition at the Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta. Curated as a conversation between light and shadow, it includes work by international artists like James Gemmill and rising Maltese talent. A dramatic opening night and artist conversations will accompany the launch.
Taħdit
30 October 2025 | 8pm
Valletta Campus Theatre, Valletta
A sensory experience awaits at Valletta Campus Theatre with TAĦDIT, a black-box sound installation featuring flautist Kathryn Willliams and a surround-sound choral landscape.
Chiaroscuro - an exhibition of paintings, conversations between darkness and light
30 October - 9 November 2025
Grand Master's Palace, Valletta
A visual arts exhibition at the Grandmaster’s Palace in Valletta between October 30 and November 9. Curated as a conversation between light and shadow, it includes work by international artists like James Gemmill and rising Maltese talent.
Death, Transcendence, Resurrection
31 October 2025 | 8pm
St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
A major highlight arrives on Friday, 31 October at St John’s Co-Cathedral, in Valletta with the Amadeus Chamber Choir performing Mozart’s Requiem, for the first time partially in Maltese, alongside newly commissioned works.
Taħdit
31 October 2025 | 8pm
Valletta Campus Theatre, Valletta
A sensory experience awaits at Valletta Campus Theatre with TAĦDIT, a black-box sound installation featuring flautist Kathryn Willliams and a surround-sound choral landscape.
![Fuq tal-linja ma’…! [= on the bus with…]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/fd3df4_a7db76cde0bc4a69a6920e7bb238df97~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_759,h_547,al_c,q_85,enc_avif,quality_auto/malta-bus-zejtun.jpg)
Fuq tal-linja ma’…! [= on the bus with…]
1 November 2025 | 11am
Ta Xbiex, Żabbar, Qormi, Birżebbuġa
Throughout the weekend, the festival also hits the road with Fuq tal-linja ma’..!, a series of roaming performances and conversations aboard vintage Maltese buses.
Baroque Conversations
1 November 2025 | 8pm
Verdala Palace, Siġġiewi
The evening on Saturday, 1 November shifts the focus to Verdala Palace in Siġġiewi for an opulent Baroque evening led by members of ViBE (Valletta Baroque Ensemble), featuring Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No 5.
Taħdit
1 November 2025 | 8pm
Valletta Campus Theatre, Valletta
A sensory experience awaits at Valletta Campus Theatre with TAĦDIT, a black-box sound installation featuring flautist Kathryn Willliams and a surround-sound choral landscape.
Quattro Mani: A Clown Called Petrouchka
2 November 2025 | 6pm
Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
Quattro Mani: a clown called Petrouchka, pianists Gabi Sultana and Joanne Camilleri deliver a dazzling four-hand recital featuring works by Stravinsky, Ravel, Gershwin, and Kulenty.
Goyescas - inspired by Goya, live painting to the music of Granados
2 November 2025 | 11am
Malta Society of Arts, Valletta
On Sunday, 2 November in the morning, at the Malta Society of Arts, Valletta, the programme begins with Goyescas, a live painting by Maryleen Schiltkamp and piano recital by Maureen Galea.
PROGRAMME 2025
FOREWORDS
DR MICHELLE CASTELLETTI
The Three Palaces - Foreword
A key. It can open a secret draw. It can decipher a crypt. This year’s festival is celebrating one of the most-loved and most known instruments – the piano – but in all its various guises as a keyboard. From the playful and glistening sound of a toy piano to the glorious grandeur of the pipe organ; the poise and sparkle conjured up by the harpsichord to the nobility and majesty of the grand piano. The piano can accompany, and the piano can take centre stage.
I invite you all to join us as we indulge in the passion of the Argentine tango with accordion, strings and dancers, or the virtuosity of jazz giants where fingers fly off the keyboard; the beauty and intimacy of song, or the audacity of plucking the strings inside the piano; the bucket list tick of The 32 with Beethoven’s complete piano sonata cycle, or having a go at playing the piano with your feet in the streets! I am thrilled to present The Three Palaces Festival 2023 to you, and am looking forward to welcoming everyone to Malta’s most magnificent palaces, to unlock sound with a key… for a celebration of the keyboard.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
FRANS AGIUS
Welcome to this year’s edition of The Three Palaces Festival, which is now in its eleventh edition.
The festival is known for its use of Malta’s most beautiful palaces and churches. This year, the festival will be taking its audiences to the Gran Salon in the Archaeology Museum and St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Verdala Palace in Siġġiewi, as well as SanAnton Palace in Attard. All of these are historical backdrops that captivate our audiences for an excellent cultural and artistic experience.
This time, the festival has a versatile and all-encompassing programme by Dr Michelle Castelletti, the festival’s artistic director.This edition celebrates the versatile use of the keyboard through the piano, the organ, the accordion, and the harpsichord. Theperformances will explore different ways of how these instruments are played across different genres, namely classical music, jazz, and even pop.
Festivals Malta is proud to carry on the legacy of The Three Palaces Festival. Our artists and audiences can indeed look forward to a satisfying cultural experience, where our ordinary becomes indeed extraordinary.