Photograph: ViBE Collective by Rob Matthew ViBE Collective Violins Sarah Spiteri, Tatjana Chircop, Marcelline Agius, Stefano Gullo
Violas Orietta Beaumer, Matthew Fenech
Cello Elia Moffa
D’Bass Michelle Agius
Harpsichord Tom Armitage
Baroque Guitar Giovanni Bellini
Narrator Sean Borg
Story by Sarah Spiteri
A story told in music. La Monica… The Night She Left brings together a collection of 17th-century works connected by a single recurring melody and an imagined story. At its centre is ‘La Monica’, also known as ‘Madre, non mi far monaca’ — a melody that travelled across c-17th Europe, crossing borders and musical traditions as composers took it up, transformed it and made it their own.
The programme begins with this melody in its simplest form, before opening out into a succession of increasingly vivid and unexpected musical worlds. Biagio Marini’s Sonata sopra La Monica sets the melody within the sophisticated language of the early Baroque, while Falconieri, Biber, Schmelzer, and Farina lead us progressively further from the familiar: into the world of demons and fantastical characters, birds and animals, theatrical human encounters, and finally the extraordinary soundscape of Capriccio stravagante, where the boundaries between reality and imagination begin to dissolve.
Running quietly through the programme is the image of a young woman destined for the convent who chooses instead to leave. Her story is deliberately understated, providing a thread rather than a literal narrative as the music moves between the familiar, the human, the fantastical and the absurd. Written by Sarah Spiteri
Programme
Anon Sopra La Monica
Biagio Marini Sonata Sopra ‘La Monica’
Andrea Falconieri Batalla de Barabaso yerno de Satanas (Battle of Barabaso, son-in-law of Satan)
Rinen, y pelean entre Berzebillo con Satanasillo, y Caruf, y Pantul (They run and fight between Berzebillo, Satanasillo, Caruf and Pantul)
Bayle se los dichos Diabolos (Dance of the Devils)
Heinrich Biber Sonata Representativa
Heinrich Schmelzer Die Fechtschule (The Fencing School)
Carlo Farina Capriccio Extravagant
Anon Sopra La Monica
THE VENUE
Built in 1571, Auberge d’Aragon is one of Valletta’s earliest and most remarkably preserved buildings. Designed by the Maltese architect Girolamo Cassar, it was created to house the Knights of the Order of St John belonging to the Langue of Aragon, Navarre, and Catalonia. Of Valletta’s original auberges, it is exceptional in retaining much of Cassar’s original sixteenth-century Mannerist character. Its restrained limestone architecture, Renaissance rooms, and relative lack of later embellishment give it a particular sense of continuity with the young city of Valletta.
Yet the Auberge’s history extends far beyond the Knights. Under British rule it became known for a time as Gibraltar House, and the neoclassical Doric portico that now marks its entrance was added in the nineteenth century. The building subsequently served a succession of civic purposes, including as a school, printing press, and wartime hospital.
Most significantly for this hall, Auberge d’Aragon twice housed the Office of the Prime Minister, from 1921 to 1933 and again from 1947 to 1972. It was therefore at the centre of government when Malta achieved independence in 1964. The historic table preserved here evokes that decisive chapter in the country’s story, giving the room a resonance extending beyond its architectural importance. A building conceived for the knights of a sixteenth-century European order thus became a setting for modern Maltese government and the emergence of an independent nation.
The ViBE Collective
The ViBE Collective is a Maltese artist-led ensemble bringing together professional musicians with a shared interest in exploring repertoire, performance and the relationship between music and its audiences. Emerging from the work of the Valletta Baroque Ensemble (ViBE) and the Abos Project, the Collective builds upon a strong foundation in historically informed performance while deliberately looking beyond the conventional boundaries of the Renaissance and Baroque repertoire. Its artistic work embraces music from different periods and traditions, with a particular interest in the possibilities that emerge when repertoire, instruments, musicians and context are brought together in unexpected ways.
Under the artistic direction of soprano Gillian Zammit and violinist Sarah Spiteri, The ViBE Collective brings together experienced performers and collaborators from Malta and abroad. The Collective draws on the knowledge and experience developed through two established Maltese initiatives while opening a new chapter in their artistic development.
The Valletta Baroque Ensemble, founded in 2012, established itself as a prominent force in Malta's early music scene, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and championing Malta's rich musical heritage. The Abos Project, initially established as the Monteverdi Project, developed a complementary focus on vocal music, historically informed practice, music education and the rediscovery and performance of the works of Maltese composer Girolamo Abos (1715–1760).
The two strands now come together as the ViBE Collective — a name that reflects both its origins and its intention to remain open to what comes next. The Collective is interested in the dialogue between old and new, between familiar repertoire and unfamiliar perspectives, and in finding fresh possibilities within music that may have been performed many times before. Based in Malta and connected to the wider European musical landscape, the ViBE Collective is committed to creating performances that are rooted in knowledge, but driven by curiosity.
The ViBE Collective's forthcoming projects include Henry Purcell's All Hail! Bright Cecilia under the direction of Sandy Burnett, and Johann Adolph Hasse's Miserere.