Photograph: Toy Pianos by Ruben Zahra Tricia Dawn Williams, piano Fiorella Camilleri, flute Karol Aquilina, guitar Synopsis
Within the ancient fortifications of St James Cavalier in Valletta, musical stories unfold in a place that carries stories of its own. Piazzolla and Zgraja transport us through the living traditions of tango and flamenco, while the Toy Piano Corner opens miniature worlds of memory, imagination and play. Yet not every story is known in advance: another voice may enter, another chapter may emerge, leaving space for the unexpected. Across cultures and generations, through grand journeys and fleeting vignettes, the programme explores music as storytelling—where past and present, place and memory, the monumental and the miniature, the known and the unknown come together in sound.
Programme
Edward Zgraja Virtuoso Flamenco Studies for Flute
1.Improvvisando - Flamenco - a piacere (Hommage à Bach)
Phyllis Chen Carousels, for 1 Toy Piano & Music Box
Olivia Kieffer The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, for 1 Toy Piano, Woodblocks & Jingles
Alex Vella Gregory An Otterly Serious Piece, for 3 Toy Pianos
Dominique Charpentier Vignette, for 1 Toy Piano
Paul Max Edlin A Little Gift, for 1 Toy Piano Veronique Vella When Angels Rest
Stephen Montague Dawn, for 1 Toy Piano Paco de Lucia Reflejo de Luna
Astor Piazzolla Histoire du Tango for flute and guitar
Bordel, 1900
Café, 1930
Nightclub, 1960
Concert d'aujourd'hui
Programme Note
A fortress-bastion, a sole flautist on stage. An intimate space in this grandiose setting. Light on what looks like an installation of toy pianos. A story without words.
Some stories are told not in words, but in rhythm, breath and gesture. Astor Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango and Edward Zgraja’s 3 Virtuoso Flamenco Studies for Flute draw us into two such stories, each rooted in a musical tradition shaped by place, memory and human encounter.
In Histoire du Tango, Piazzolla traces tango’s journey through the twentieth century. From the restless energy of Bordel 1900, it moves into the smoky intimacy and melancholy of Café 1930, before embracing the jazz-inflected world of Nightclub 1960 and, finally, the concert stage of Concert d’aujourd’hui. Yet this is more than a history of tango: it is the story of a music continually reinventing itself, carrying echoes of its past into each new setting.
Zgraja’s 3 Virtuoso Flamenco Studies tells its story differently. Here there is no chronological journey. Instead, the flute becomes storyteller, singer and dancer, conjuring the spirit of flamenco through fiery rhythms, sudden changes of colour, lyrical intensity and dazzling virtuosity. They are deeply rooted in ‘cante jondo’ , the most ancient of Andalusian folk music. The improvisatory first movement blends free expression with a structural and contrapuntal nod to Johann Sebastian Bach.
Together, these works remind us that musical traditions are themselves stories: inherited but never static, carrying traces of the people and places that shaped them while being transformed each time they are retold in performance.
Sitting as a tableau in the middle of all this will be the scintillating sound of a toy piano – or five! With ‘The Toy Piano Corner’, we extend the idea of musical storytelling into a more intimate world. A collection of miniature works suggests a sequence of tiny scenes, characters and moments, almost like a book of musical short stories. Where Piazzolla tells a story across decades, and Zgraja evokes a tradition through the physicality of rhythm and gesture, the toy piano finds narrative in miniature: a music box, a carousel, a gift, an animal, the coming of dawn. Its magical (fragile?) sound world becomes part of its expressive power, inviting us to listen closely and rediscover familiar sounds with the curiosity of childhood. In this way, the Toy Piano Corner adds another perspective to the programme’s central idea: stories need not be large to carry meaning. They can unfold across a century, live within a cultural tradition, or be contained in a fleeting musical vignette—each creating a world through sound.
VENUE
Rising above Valletta’s landward fortifications, St John’s Cavalier is one of the earliest structures of the fortified city created by the Order of St John in the aftermath of the Great Siege of 1565. Valletta was conceived as an entirely new capital: a Renaissance city whose streets, buildings and formidable defences were planned together. The Italian military engineer Francesco Laparelli, sent to Malta by Pope Pius V, designed its fortifications, assisted by the Maltese architect and engineer Girolamo Cassar, who later continued the work.
St John’s was one of nine cavaliers originally envisaged for Valletta, although only two—St John’s and the neighbouring St James Cavalier—were ultimately constructed. A cavalier is not, strictly speaking, a bastion, but an elevated artillery platform built within a larger defensive system. St John’s Cavalier rises above St John’s Bastion and was positioned to command the approaches to Valletta from the landward side, looking towards what would later become Floriana. Its guns could fire over the surrounding fortifications and could also be turned against an enemy that had succeeded in penetrating the city’s outer defences.
Its architecture, consequently, speaks the uncompromising language of sixteenth-century military engineering: massive limestone walls, powerful geometric forms and an elevated position designed around visibility, artillery and defence. Rather than being conceived principally as an inhabited building, the Cavalier was a strategic structure—a monumental piece of architecture shaped by the possibility of siege.
Its history also contains intriguing hidden layers. St John’s Cavalier was once connected to St James Cavalier by an underground passage, now blocked. In 1646, Grand Master Giovanni Paolo Lascaris added warehouses for gunpowder and muskets around part of the structure; these were demolished in the twentieth century, although their commemorative inscription survives on the Cavalier itself.
Perhaps most evocatively, St John’s Cavalier retains a connection with the institution responsible for its creation. Today it houses the Embassy of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the successor to the Order of St John that constructed Valletta and its fortifications in the sixteenth century.
For a programme concerned with stories, memory and the unknown, the setting therefore has particular resonance. These walls were created in response to one dramatic chapter in Malta’s history, yet they have endured while the world around them has changed. Within them, new stories can now be told through sound: histories remembered, traditions transformed, and unexpected voices allowed to emerge. St John’s Cavalier becomes more than the setting for the performance—it is itself one of the stories.
Fiorella Camilleri - flautist
Fiorella Camilleri is a Maltese flautist, chamber musician and cultural practitioner who has built a versatile career spanning orchestral, chamber and cross-cultural music. She has been Sub-Principal Flute and Piccolo with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra since 2004, performing extensively in Malta and internationally. A passionate advocate of chamber music, Fiorella has collaborated with musicians from Europe, Latin America and beyond, exploring classical, contemporary, tango, Cuban and world music. She is the founder and member of several ensembles and projects, including the Catal flute and guitar duo with Cuban guitarist Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas, Cinco Flores with Mexican guitarist Andrés González Najera, and the Arcana Quintet, dedicated to the music of Astor Piazzolla. Her international engagements have included performances at Mumbai’s Mood Indigo Festival, as well as projects and concerts in Cuba, Italy, Japan and Sweden.
Her artistic work is strongly connected to cultural diplomacy and intercultural exchange. In Japan, she led a Malta Arts Fund-supported research project exploring connections between Maltese and Japanese traditional music, reflecting her interest in using music as a bridge between cultures. Fiorella holds a Master’s degree in Flute Performance from the Istituto Pareggiato Orazio Vecchi Tonelli in Modena, Italy, and a BA (Hons) in International Relations from the University of Malta. She has further developed her artistry through masterclasses with internationally renowned flautists and orchestral principals. She continues to combine performance, education, research and cultural collaboration in her artistic practice.
Karol Aquilina - guitarist
Karol Aquilina is a Maltese concert guitarist specialising in Classical and Flamenco music. His musical journey began at an early age under the guidance of his father, Jorge Aquilina, a classical and flamenco guitarist, continuing a family tradition established by his grandfather, the late Carmelo Aquilina.
Driven by a passion for the guitar, Karol has developed extensive expertise in both Classical and Flamenco music, mastering intricate techniques, rhythms, palos and falsetas. He regularly performs as a soloist and alongside his father, while also collaborating with instrumentalists, vocalists, choirs and internationally recognised opera singers. He also regularly performs with various Flamenco dancers. In 2024, Karol won first prize in Classical Guitar at the inaugural Malta Concerto Competition. In 2025, he performed as a soloist with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Manoel Theatre, accompanying international opera singers. He also performed Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Guitar Concerto with the Malta Philharmonic and Youth Orchestra, followed by Joaquín Rodrigo’s
Concierto de Aranjuez.
In March 2026, Karol performed with internationally renowned opera singers in Verdi’s Falstaff at the Manoel Theatre. He has also performed internationally with his father, including in Abu Dhabi, and collaborated with him on Alex Camilleri’s film Żejtune, contributing to its soundtrack and performing in various scenes.
Karol holds advanced qualifications in Music Theory and Composition and Performance, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music (Honours) at the University of Malta. He has also immersed himself in other instruments, including piano and saxophone. Composition has become an important part of his musical career, with numerous original works written in different styles and forms for solo guitar, chamber ensembles, concerts and special events. He regularly performs his own compositions and continues to develop new works for a variety of musical projects. He also regularly performs recitals at prestigious venues, such as Villa Corinthia, among others.
Tricia Dawn Williams - pianist
Tricia Dawn Williams is a Maltese pianist of Irish and Welsh descent who is known for applying multimedia innovation and experimental technologies to contemporary music. She creates immersive performances blending video art, electronic soundscapes and extended piano techniques that include motion-capture technology via the MYO band. Her international career features landmark performances at venues including Les Invalides (Paris), Kennedy Center of Performing Arts (Washington) Montreal’s Satosphère. A champion of new music, she has commissioned and premiered the work of various composers and earned international recognition for her project Transition, selected for the Classical:Next live showcase in 2019 among 11 major innovative projects. Williams has also developed an international following among toy piano enthusiasts. Recent highlights include the Kinderklavier Concerto with the Brno Contemporary Orchestra and the ToyPiano+ project, involving 13 composers and video artists.