11 - 29 January 2023
Kenneth Zammit Tabona
Artistic Director
The 11th Edition of the Valletta Baroque Festival is underway and it is as eclectic as ever. After two agonizingly long years of postponements due to the pandemic we now have a splendiferous programme that had been in accumulation since 2019. Besides the time honoured baroque composers; Bach, Handel and the rest of the sacred band’s music played on baroque instruments we have transcriptions and paraphrases for piano, wind instruments, saxophones, organ and even a rock band. I wanted to highlight the enormous versatility of the baroque idiom and its mass appeal. Above all the festival’s strength lies in the wonderful baroque settings that one finds in Valletta and the Maltese archipelago; a precious legacy that each and every one of us Maltese treasure…
PROGRAMME 2023
11 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Valletta Baroque Ensemble and Kor Malta.
Venue: St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
The Dettingen Te Deum and other Handelian hits
The Dettingen Te Deum was written in commemoration of the last battle led by an English king; specifically, George II in 1743. This concert will feature two other Handel masterpieces;
Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 11, Zadok the Priest, and Eternal Source of Light Divine.
12 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Bach Cantatas, BWV131, 13, 106
Alia Mens dir. Olivier Spilmont
Venue: Parish Church of the Annunciation, Tarxien
Eloquentia
Bach begins the creation of what he judges to be the core of his work with his cantatas. He was always concerned for his works to be organised through games of symmetry and alternation creating a balanced structure to the expression of his thoughts.
13 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Avi Avital (mandolin)
Venue: Bibliotheca, Valletta
Bach on Mandolin
The first mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy, Avi Avital has been compared to Andres Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to Jascha Heifitz for his incredible virtuosity. Avital is a driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin repertoire.
13 January 2023 | 8:00pm
BWV1066-1069
Les Passions de l’Âme
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Bach - The Four Orchestral Suites
Similar to the set of the six Brandenburg concertos, the orchestration of the four orchestral suites varies somewhat, highlighting different instruments. They are very rarely played together and consist of an ‘ouverture’ followed by a set of dance movements in the French style.
14 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Accademia del Piacere
Venue: Archaeology Museum, Valletta
Diálogos de viejos y nuevos sones
This concert approaches baroque instruments through roots music that like flamenco is a constant growth of new branches from the trunk of tradition, a constant interaction between the new and the old.
14 January 2023 | 8:00pm
Accademia del Piacere
Venue: Archaeology Museum, Valletta
Chorales for Violas da Gamba and Organ
Bach's organ chorales are one of the most surprising jewels in the creative corpus of the great Johann Sebastian Bach. The consort of violas da gamba can perfectly replicate the texture and colour of the organ, so transcribing this music for this ensemble becomes a very respectful and fluid metamorphic process.
15 January 2023 | 11:00am
Abchordis Trio
Venue: Cathedral Museum, Mdina
Sonate da Camera del Barocco Napoletano
It was in the aristocratic salons and academies of Naples that instrumental chamber music flourished. Concerts were often open to the public in the houses of the nobility. This programme recreates this atmosphere in a selection of chamber sonatas by the greatest composers of the Neapolitan school.
15 January 2023 | 3:00pm
Lautten Compagney BERLIN
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
Biber & Piazzolla
This programme brings together music by two composers from different eras that at first glance have nothing in common, however the juxtaposition of these two genres of music by lautten compagney BERLIN is very intriguing and aesthetically pleasing.
15 January 2023 | 6:00pm
Weaver Ensemble
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
The Remarkably Talented Mr Weaver Presents...
An eighteenth-century choreographic fantasy set to music by Clarke, Croft, Eccles, Finger, Lully, Paisible and Purcell, devised and created by Stephen Wyatt & Evelyn Nallen telling the story about how English choreographer John Weaver fought to achieve his dream of creating a proper dance-drama in a world that regarded dance as a frivolous side-line.
18 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Sarah Spiteri (baroque viola) and Pablo Zapico (theorbo)
Venue: Bibliotheca, Valletta
Music from the Court of Versailles
The programme to be performed is for music written for viola da gamba which adapts itself beautifully to the baroque viola because of the similar range and texture. The composers proposed for this programme were all master viola da gambists.
18 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Gabetta Consort with Valer Barna-Sabadus (countertenor)
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Baroque quintessence of Handel & Vivaldi
When one thinks of Baroque music, Handel and Vivaldi are amongst the first names to come to mind. Both composers are also well-known for their wide range of repertoire written for castrato, today widely performed by countertenors.
19 January 2023 | 12:00pm
SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet and Kai Schumacher (piano)
Venue: Phoenicia Hotel Ballroom, Floriana
Goldberg Nights
Tranquillity and trance, ecstasy and exhaustion, dream, and reality – with this new programme the SIGNUM saxophone quartet and Kai Schumacher on piano embark on an odyssey through the realms of possibility and contrast called The Golberg Nights Project, originally inspired by this festival’s artistic director.
19 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri
Venue: Collegiate Basilica of St Helen, Birkirkara
Mozart in Milan
In 1773 Mozart’s famous motet Exultate Jubilate was premiered at the church of Sant’Antonio Abate in Milan. Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri have created Mozart in Milan, commemorating this music and other Milanese sacred music by Mozart’s Milanese contemporaries; Gianandrea Fioroni, Johann Christian Bach and Melchiorre Chiesa.
20 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord) Jonathan Keates (narrator)
Venue: St Mary of Jesus Church (Ta' Ġieżu), Rabat
Kuhnau Biblical Sonatas
Amongst the last of his publications, Johann Kuhnau's Musicalische Vorstellung Einiger Biblischer Historien (1700) stands in his keyboard output as the most emphatic manifestation of the multi-faceted mind and activity of one of Baroque music's most remarkable polymaths.
20 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Bux WV75
Valletta Baroque Ensemble and Kor Malta
Venue: Santa Tereża ta' Ġesù, Cospicua
Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri
Buxtehude’s cantata cycle, Membra Jesu Nostri, is a unique work based on texts from a mediaeval Latin hymn, ‘Salve mundi salutare’. The cycle contains seven cantatas each dedicated to a different part of Christ’s crucified body.
20 January 2023 | 8:00pm
Robert Bachara & Capella Cracoviensis
Venue: Church of the Immaculate Conception, Cospicua
Biber's Rosary Sonatas
The Rosary Sonatas are a group of fifteen short sonatas and a passacaglia for violin and basso continuo written by Bohemian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber around 1674. Rooted in Biber’s long-time employment with the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, they are rare examples of instrumental sacred music.
21 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Arsenale Sonoro dir. Boris Begelman with Francesca Aspromonte (soprano)
Venue: Parish Church of the Assumption, Għaxaq
Ardet Meum Cor
The image of the burning heart is a very well-known catholic symbol of Jesus’ love for humanity. This is translated into verse and music in this collection of motets and sonatas by Corelli, Bonporti and Handel.
21 January 2023 | 8:00pm
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Trevor Bowes as Polifemo
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Handel: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
Duchess Aurora di Sanseverino commissioned this opera for a wedding celebration in Naples; on a spicy Italian libretto penned by her private secretary Nicola Giuvo. Handel composed Aci in his early twenties, during the highly formative years he spent in Italy. The most famous aria for lyric bass from this opera is Fra L’Ombre e Gl'Orrori.
22 January 2023 | 11:00am
Steven Devine
Venue: Cathedral Museum, Mdina
Rameau's Divine Keyboard
The publication of Rameau’s Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin marked an important development in his compositional technique. Unusually for 18th century music, Rameau and his contemporaries anticipated the impressionistic music of Debussy because of their very strong descriptive element.
22 January 2023 | 3:00pm
Steven Devine and Kate Semmens
Venue: Cathedral Museum, Mdina
Delicatessen
This programme explores the work of English composers from the 17th and 18th centuries well-known for their art in enhancing the meaning of words through music. Many of the texts explore simple pastoral scenes where shepherds and shepherdesses fall in and out of love, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
25 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Prisma
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
Streets of London
PRISMA takes us on a trip through the pubs and bars of London and explores the British dance music of the 17th century. This programme brings melodies of the famous collection ‘The English Dancing Master’ as well as music from ‘The Division Violin’, Scottish and Irish Folk tunes, and even some later hits like ‘Danny Boy’ – all performed in the spontaneous and lively PRISMA style!
25 January 2023 | 7:30pm
L'Arte del Mondo with Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (soprano)
Venue: Casino Maltese, Valletta
Delirio Amoroso
These works include extensive, enormously extroverted solo cantatas for soprano. They are rarely heard, and unlike many other works by Handel from his Italian period, they have not yet regained the attention they deserve. Thus ‘Delirio Amoroso’ is not just a flowery made-up title, but an extremely colourful body of work by a young composer full of joie de vivre and original ideas.
26 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Roberto Cominati (piano)
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Spectacular Piano Transcriptions
In this performance, the great season of the late Baroque is reinterpreted through the experiences of successive historical periods. The harpsichord originals by Scarlatti, Handel and Rameau come to life on the piano keyboard and are confronted with the reinterpretations proposed by the great pianists/transcribers of the twentieth century.
26 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Camerata Kilkenny
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
The Piper and the Fairy Queen
The connections between baroque and traditional Irish music are explored in this fascinating concert which brings together the traditional music skills of uilleann piper David Power with acclaimed early music group Camerata Kilkenny.
27 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Charlie Siem (violin)
Venue: Palazzo Parisio, Naxxar
Bach Spectacular Violin
Virtuoso Charlie Siem returns to the Valletta Baroque Festival with a Bach sonata BWV 1003 and a partita BWV 1006. Passionate about bringing classical music to new audiences around the world, in addition to his classical performance career Siem has revived the age-old violinistic tradition of composing virtuosic variations of popular themes.
27 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Passacaglia Trio
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
To Touch the Heart
Frederick the Great of Prussia was a keen flautist and musician who employed some of the most celebrated and talented composers and performers of the age, including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach as well as the famous flautist, teacher, and writer Johann Joachim Quantz. This concert consists of works directly connected to King Frederick and his wonderful ‘enlightened’ court at Sanssouci.
27 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
Venue: Church of the Circumcision of our Lord (Jesuits), Valletta
Inspired by Baroque
Inspired by Baroque consists of 20th century and contemporary music for modern orchestras inspired by the Baroque idiom. This concert will consist of works by Prokofiev, Grieg, Strauss and Maltese composer Veronique Vella.
28 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Palisander
Venue: Malta Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa
Beware the Spider
At a time when human knowledge and understanding of the world around them was developing with increasing speed, the continued belief in curing spider bites with music seems all the more extraordinary. This concert celebrates this belief.
28 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Hansjörg Albrecht (organ)
Venue: Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Balluta
Vivaldi Quattro Stagioni & Handel: Royal Fireworks Music
This recital consists of two of the most famous works by Handel and Vivaldi opulently transcribed for the "queen of instruments", the organ, which gives them a completely new dimension.
28 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Ensemble Divino Sospiro
Venue: Basilica of St Dominic, Valletta
Alessandro Scarlatti: Il Giardino di Rose
Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio Il Giardino di Rose dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary was commissioned by Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli and was performed in Palazzo Bonelli in Rome on Easter Sunday 1707. This oratorio by the Palermitan composer, was only recently rediscovered and is extremely innovative in style for its time.
28 January 2023 | 9:30pm
The Rock Troupers
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
BaRock
The Rock Troupers are returning with a bang to the Valletta Baroque Festival together with six classical baroque musicians. This rock band will present re-works of Rock and Baroque classics from Bach to Jon Lord and from Vivaldi to Pink Floyd.
29 January 2023 | 10:30am
Cantarlontano/The Monteverdi Project dir. Marco Mencoboni
Venue: Church of the Circumcision of our Lord (Jesuits), Valletta
Abos: Mass in G (World premiere)
A liturgical Mass in G for voices and instruments by the Italo-Maltese composer Girolamo Abos. This music was preserved in the Library of the Conservatory of Music S. Pietro a Majella in Naples under the signature M. Rel. 8. This particularmass can be distinguished from others written by Abos due to the presence of the timpani in the score.
Valletta Baroque Festival
Since its launch in 2013, the Valletta Baroque Festival has treated audiences to a unique event featuring some of the best soloists and ensembles in the baroque music scene. Spanning over three weeks, the festival offers a quintessential experience of all that is Baroque as it takes place in exquisite venues such as St John’s Co-Cathedral, The Verdala Palace, Palazzo Parisio, and Teatru Manoel to name a few. These venues are authentic Baroque spaces adorned with lavish decor, sculptures and paintings that are typical of this period. Organised by Festivals Malta every January, under the artistic direction of Kenneth Zammit Tabona, the festival highlights the enormous versatility of the baroque idiom and its mass appeal. Above all the festival’s strength lies in the wonderful baroque settings that one finds in Valletta and the Maltese archipelago; a precious legacy that each and every one of us Maltese treasure
TICKETS
We are having temporary issues with our ticketing system. Please let us have your email to contact you as soon as we are back online. We trust that this will be fixed very soon.
PROGRAMME 2023
11 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Valletta Baroque Ensemble and Kor Malta.
Venue: St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
The Dettingen Te Deum and other Handelian hits
The Dettingen Te Deum was written in commemoration of the last battle led by an English king; specifically, George II in 1743. This concert will feature two other Handel masterpieces;
Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 11, Zadok the Priest, and Eternal Source of Light Divine.
12 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Bach Cantatas, BWV131, 13, 106
Alia Mens dir. Olivier Spilmont
Venue: Parish Church of the Annunciation, Tarxien
Eloquentia
Bach begins the creation of what he judges to be the core of his work with his cantatas. He was always concerned for his works to be organised through games of symmetry and alternation creating a balanced structure to the expression of his thoughts.
13 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Avi Avital (mandolin)
Venue: Bibliotheca, Valletta
Bach on Mandolin
The first mandolin soloist to be nominated for a classical Grammy, Avi Avital has been compared to Andres Segovia for his championship of his instrument and to Jascha Heifitz for his incredible virtuosity. Avital is a driving force behind the reinvigoration of the mandolin repertoire.
13 January 2023 | 8:00pm
BWV1066-1069
Les Passions de l’Âme
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Bach - The Four Orchestral Suites
Similar to the set of the six Brandenburg concertos, the orchestration of the four orchestral suites varies somewhat, highlighting different instruments. They are very rarely played together and consist of an ‘ouverture’ followed by a set of dance movements in the French style.
14 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Accademia del Piacere
Venue: Archaeology Museum, Valletta
Diálogos de viejos y nuevos sones
This concert approaches baroque instruments through roots music that like flamenco is a constant growth of new branches from the trunk of tradition, a constant interaction between the new and the old.
14 January 2023 | 8:00pm
Accademia del Piacere
Venue: Archaeology Museum, Valletta
Chorales for Violas da Gamba and Organ
Bach's organ chorales are one of the most surprising jewels in the creative corpus of the great Johann Sebastian Bach. The consort of violas da gamba can perfectly replicate the texture and colour of the organ, so transcribing this music for this ensemble becomes a very respectful and fluid metamorphic process.
15 January 2023 | 11:00am
Abchordis Trio
Venue: Cathedral Museum, Mdina
Sonate da Camera del Barocco Napoletano
It was in the aristocratic salons and academies of Naples that instrumental chamber music flourished. Concerts were often open to the public in the houses of the nobility. This programme recreates this atmosphere in a selection of chamber sonatas by the greatest composers of the Neapolitan school.
15 January 2023 | 3:00pm
Lautten Compagney BERLIN
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
Biber & Piazzolla
This programme brings together music by two composers from different eras that at first glance have nothing in common, however the juxtaposition of these two genres of music by lautten compagney BERLIN is very intriguing and aesthetically pleasing.
15 January 2023 | 6:00pm
Weaver Ensemble
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
The Remarkably Talented Mr Weaver Presents...
An eighteenth-century choreographic fantasy set to music by Clarke, Croft, Eccles, Finger, Lully, Paisible and Purcell, devised and created by Stephen Wyatt & Evelyn Nallen telling the story about how English choreographer John Weaver fought to achieve his dream of creating a proper dance-drama in a world that regarded dance as a frivolous side-line.
18 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Sarah Spiteri (baroque viola) and Pablo Zapico (theorbo)
Venue: Bibliotheca, Valletta
Music from the Court of Versailles
The programme to be performed is for music written for viola da gamba which adapts itself beautifully to the baroque viola because of the similar range and texture. The composers proposed for this programme were all master viola da gambists.
18 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Gabetta Consort with Valer Barna-Sabadus (countertenor)
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Baroque quintessence of Handel & Vivaldi
When one thinks of Baroque music, Handel and Vivaldi are amongst the first names to come to mind. Both composers are also well-known for their wide range of repertoire written for castrato, today widely performed by countertenors.
19 January 2023 | 12:00pm
SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet and Kai Schumacher (piano)
Venue: Archaeology Museum, Valletta
Goldberg Nights
Tranquillity and trance, ecstasy and exhaustion, dream, and reality – with this new programme the SIGNUM saxophone quartet and Kai Schumacher on piano embark on an odyssey through the realms of possibility and contrast called The Golberg Nights Project, originally inspired by this festival’s artistic director.
19 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri
Venue: Collegiate Basilica of St Helen, Birkirkara
Mozart in Milan
In 1773 Mozart’s famous motet Exultate Jubilate was premiered at the church of Sant’Antonio Abate in Milan. Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri have created Mozart in Milan, commemorating this music and other Milanese sacred music by Mozart’s Milanese contemporaries; Gianandrea Fioroni, Johann Christian Bach and Melchiorre Chiesa.
20 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord) Jonathan Keates (narrator)
Venue: St Mary of Jesus Church (Ta' Ġieżu), Rabat
Kuhnau Biblical Sonatas
Amongst the last of his publications, Johann Kuhnau's Musicalische Vorstellung Einiger Biblischer Historien (1700) stands in his keyboard output as the most emphatic manifestation of the multi-faceted mind and activity of one of Baroque music's most remarkable polymaths.
20 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Bux WV75
Valletta Baroque Ensemble and Kor Malta
Venue: Santa Tereża ta' Ġesù, Cospicua
Buxtehude: Membra Jesu Nostri
Buxtehude’s cantata cycle, Membra Jesu Nostri, is a unique work based on texts from a mediaeval Latin hymn, ‘Salve mundi salutare’. The cycle contains seven cantatas each dedicated to a different part of Christ’s crucified body.
20 January 2023 | 8:00pm
Robert Bachara & Capella Cracoviensis
Venue: Church of the Immaculate Conception, Cospicua
Biber's Rosary Sonatas
The Rosary Sonatas are a group of fifteen short sonatas and a passacaglia for violin and basso continuo written by Bohemian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber around 1674. Rooted in Biber’s long-time employment with the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, they are rare examples of instrumental sacred music.
21 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Arsenale Sonoro dir. Boris Begelman with Francesca Aspromonte (soprano)
Venue: Parish Church of the Assumption, Għaxaq
Ardet Meum Cor
The image of the burning heart is a very well-known catholic symbol of Jesus’ love for humanity. This is translated into verse and music in this collection of motets and sonatas by Corelli, Bonporti and Handel.
21 January 2023 | 8:00pm
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment with Trevor Bowes as Polifemo
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Handel: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo
Duchess Aurora di Sanseverino commissioned this opera for a wedding celebration in Naples; on a spicy Italian libretto penned by her private secretary Nicola Giuvo. Handel composed Aci in his early twenties, during the highly formative years he spent in Italy. The most famous aria for lyric bass from this opera is Fra L’Ombre e Gl'Orrori.
22 January 2023 | 11:00am
Steven Devine
Venue: Cathedral Museum, Mdina
Rameau's Divine Keyboard
The publication of Rameau’s Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin marked an important development in his compositional technique. Unusually for 18th century music, Rameau and his contemporaries anticipated the impressionistic music of Debussy because of their very strong descriptive element.
22 January 2023 | 3:00pm
Steven Devine and Kate Semmens
Venue: Cathedral Museum, Mdina
Delicatessen
This programme explores the work of English composers from the 17th and 18th centuries well-known for their art in enhancing the meaning of words through music. Many of the texts explore simple pastoral scenes where shepherds and shepherdesses fall in and out of love, sometimes with disastrous consequences.
25 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Prisma
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
Streets of London
PRISMA takes us on a trip through the pubs and bars of London and explores the British dance music of the 17th century. This programme brings melodies of the famous collection ‘The English Dancing Master’ as well as music from ‘The Division Violin’, Scottish and Irish Folk tunes, and even some later hits like ‘Danny Boy’ – all performed in the spontaneous and lively PRISMA style!
25 January 2023 | 7:30pm
L'Arte del Mondo with Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli (soprano)
Venue: Casino Maltese, Valletta
Delirio Amoroso
These works include extensive, enormously extroverted solo cantatas for soprano. They are rarely heard, and unlike many other works by Handel from his Italian period, they have not yet regained the attention they deserve. Thus ‘Delirio Amoroso’ is not just a flowery made-up title, but an extremely colourful body of work by a young composer full of joie de vivre and original ideas.
26 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Roberto Cominati (piano)
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Spectacular Piano Transcriptions
In this performance, the great season of the late Baroque is reinterpreted through the experiences of successive historical periods. The harpsichord originals by Scarlatti, Handel and Rameau come to life on the piano keyboard and are confronted with the reinterpretations proposed by the great pianists/transcribers of the twentieth century.
26 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Camerata Kilkenny
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
The Piper and the Fairy Queen
The connections between baroque and traditional Irish music are explored in this fascinating concert which brings together the traditional music skills of uilleann piper David Power with acclaimed early music group Camerata Kilkenny.
27 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Charlie Siem (violin)
Venue: Palazzo Parisio, Naxxar
Bach Spectacular Violin
Virtuoso Charlie Siem returns to the Valletta Baroque Festival with a Bach sonata BWV 1003 and a partita BWV 1006. Passionate about bringing classical music to new audiences around the world, in addition to his classical performance career Siem has revived the age-old violinistic tradition of composing virtuosic variations of popular themes.
27 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Passacaglia Trio
Venue: Verdala Palace, Buskett
To Touch the Heart
Frederick the Great of Prussia was a keen flautist and musician who employed some of the most celebrated and talented composers and performers of the age, including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach as well as the famous flautist, teacher, and writer Johann Joachim Quantz. This concert consists of works directly connected to King Frederick and his wonderful ‘enlightened’ court at Sanssouci.
27 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
Venue: Church of the Circumcision of our Lord (Jesuits), Valletta
Inspired by Baroque
Inspired by Baroque consists of 20th century and contemporary music for modern orchestras inspired by the Baroque idiom. This concert will consist of works by Prokofiev, Grieg, Strauss and Maltese composer Veronique Vella.
28 January 2023 | 12:00pm
Palisander
Venue: Malta Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa
Beware the Spider
At a time when human knowledge and understanding of the world around them was developing with increasing speed, the continued belief in curing spider bites with music seems all the more extraordinary. This concert celebrates this belief.
28 January 2023 | 4:00pm
Hansjörg Albrecht (organ)
Venue: Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Balluta
Vivaldi Quattro Stagioni & Handel: Royal Fireworks Music
This recital consists of two of the most famous works by Handel and Vivaldi opulently transcribed for the "queen of instruments", the organ, which gives them a completely new dimension.
28 January 2023 | 7:30pm
Ensemble Divino Sospiro
Venue: Basilica of St Dominic, Valletta
Alessandro Scarlatti: Il Giardino di Rose
Alessandro Scarlatti’s oratorio Il Giardino di Rose dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary was commissioned by Prince Francesco Maria Ruspoli and was performed in Palazzo Bonelli in Rome on Easter Sunday 1707. This oratorio by the Palermitan composer, was only recently rediscovered and is extremely innovative in style for its time.
28 January 2023 | 9:30pm
The Rock Troupers
Venue: Teatru Manoel, Valletta
BaRock
The Rock Troupers are returning with a bang to the Valletta Baroque Festival together with six classical baroque musicians. This rock band will present re-works of Rock and Baroque classics from Bach to Jon Lord and from Vivaldi to Pink Floyd.
29 January 2023 | 10:30am
Cantarlontano/The Monteverdi Project dir. Marco Mencoboni
Venue: Church of the Circumcision of our Lord (Jesuits), Valletta
Abos: Mass in G (World premiere)
A liturgical Mass in G for voices and instruments by the Italo-Maltese composer Girolamo Abos. This music was preserved in the Library of the Conservatory of Music S. Pietro a Majella in Naples under the signature M. Rel. 8. This particularmass can be distinguished from others written by Abos due to the presence of the timpani in the score.
St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach
Thursday, 11 January 2024 | 7.30PM
St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
ViBE and KorMalta dir. Riccardo Bianchi
To celebrate the tricentennial of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion the festival has commissioned Kor Malta, the Valletta Baroque Ensemble and various top local soloists to perform this iconic work at the sumptuous St John’s Co-Cathedral.
Marin Marais Project - Suite d’un goût étranger
Friday, 12 January 2024 | 12.30PM
Oratory of the Onorati, (Jesuits' Church), Valletta
Robin Pharo; Ensemble Près de Votre Oreille
One of Marin Marais's most emblematic works opens majestically with the Marche Tartare, taken from his Quatrième Livre and penultimate collection of pieces for bass viol and continuo, published in 1717.
Follia - Dreams, Nightmares, Madness, The Charm of Disorder in Music
Friday, 12 January 2024 | 7.30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Zefiro Ensemble - Dir. Alfredo Bernardini
Experience a range of emotions, from dreams and nightmares to madness, in works by Vivaldi, Mozart, and more. It is known that music from the late baroque period mostly is about human feelings, the so-called “affects”. It often evokes joy, sadness, anger or melancholy, together with many other nuances.
Plucked Bach
Saturday, 13 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Aula Capitulare, Mdina
Alon Sariel - Mandolin
J. S. Bach was one of the first composers that Sariel encountered as a young boy. During the pandemic, he took the opportunity to dive into a project which resembles this journey with Bach's solo music on mandolin, oud, baroque-guitar and lute.
Silk Baroque
Saturday, 13 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Holland Baroque and Wu Wei
The programme features a captivating blend of traditional and contemporary pieces, showcasing the ensemble's innovative and surprising approach to Baroque music. With Wu Wei on traditional Chinese sheng and a brilliant lineup of musicians.
Bach-Abel, an exquisite filiation
Sunday, 14 January 2024 | 12:00PM
The Refectory at the Curia, Floriana
Lucile Boulanger - Viola da Gamba
Lucile Boulanger returns to the Valletta Baroque Festival for her first solo recital, performing music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel and explores the similarities between the two composers, who were separated by a generation.
Henry Purcell - King Arthur
Sunday, 14 January 2024 | 6:00PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Vox Luminis
King Arthur and his associate Merlin have caused much ink to flow, but under the pen of John Dryden and with the music of Henry Purcell their story takes an entirely new turn. The text retraces the chapter in British history in which the Saxons, seeking to reconquer their territory, attack the Britons on St George’s Day.
Salve Regina
Tuesday, 16 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Church of St Catherine, Zurrieq
Abchordis Ensemble with Claire Debono
Salve Regina is a tribute to the sacred music inspired by the Virgin Mary and includes compositions by some of the greatest composers of the Baroque period: George Frideric Handel, Nicola Porpora, and Leonardo Leo.
Toccata and Fantasia
Wednesday, 17 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Verdala Palace, Buskett
Andrea Buccarella - Harpsichord
The Toccata and Fantasia are ancient musical forms in the keyboard repertoire, originating from the Renaissance and persisting to the present day. Great composers such as Merulo, Gabrieli, Picchi, Byrd, Frescobaldi, Rossi, Froberger and Buxtehude contributed to the development and refinement of these musical forms, which then reached their maximum splendour in the mature Baroque with Johann Sebastian Bach.
Goldberg Variations on Wind Instruments
Wednesday, 17 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Casino Maltese, Valletta
Winds of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra
Bach’s Goldberg’s Variations have been transcribed for an enormous variety of instruments, which render the original work even more fascinating. The Valletta Baroque Festival commissioned a transcription of the Goldbergs for eight wind instruments and harp by principal MPO oboist John McDonough.
Bach Well-Tempered Clavier - Book 1
Thursday, 18 January 2024 | 12:00PM
San Anton Palace, Attard
Charlene Farrugia - Piano
Bach's Well-tempered Clavier is considered a fundamental piece in the keyboard repertoire. Composed throughout Bach's lifetime, the two books each consist of twenty four preludes and fugues. This version will be performed on modern piano.
Bach Keyboard Concertos - BWV1052, BWV1053 & BWV1062 - Concert 1
Thursday, 18 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra - dir Michael Laus. Pianists - Michael Laus, Maria Elena Farrugia and Christine Zerafa
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra joins forces with some of Malta's top concert pianists, performing Bach Keyboard Concertos no. 1 BWV1052, no. 2 BWV1053, and the Double Concerto BWV1062.
Picking Flowers in the Recorder’s Garden of Delights
Friday, 19 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Maritime Museum, Birgu
Erik Bosgraaf - Solo Recorders
From mediaeval to our modern times, music has become increasingly complex and multi-layered. Nevertheless, throughout the ages there have always been composers and performers who have continued to believe in the power of monophony.
Bach Keyboard Concertos - BWV1054, BWV1055, BWV1056 & BWV1061- Concert 2
Friday, 19 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra - dir Michael Laus. Pianists - Francis Camilleri, Joanne Camilleri, Gisèle Grima
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra joins forces with some of Malta's top concert pianists, performing Bach Keyboard Concertos no. 3 BWV1054, no. 4 BWV1055, no. 5 BWV 1056 and Double Concerto BWV1061.
Aurum Variations, 988
Saturday, 20 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Maritime Museum, Birgu
POW Ensemble: Erik Bosgraaf, Tom Armitage, Carlo Maria Paulesu & Luc Houtkamp
Bach’s Goldberg Variations are an immovable force in both the harpsichord and piano canon. This version pays respect to its Baroque roots while unleashing newfangledness upon it with newly-composed variations by composers, Houtkamp, Armitage, and Bosgraaf.
Bach Keyboard Concertos - BWV1057, BWV1058 & BWV1060 - Concert 3
Saturday, 20 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra - dir. Michael Laus - Pianists - Caroline Calleja, Charlene Farrugia, Joanne Camilleri
The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra joins forces with some of Malta's top concert pianists, performing Bach Keyboard Concertos no. 6 BWV1057, no. 7 BWV1058, and Double Concert BWV1060.
Roma 1635 – 1716
Sunday, 21 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Our Lady of Victory Church, Valletta
John Aquilina - Organ
Local organist John Aquilina will be performing a solo recital on the 17th century Santucci Organ featuring Girolamo Frescobaldi's "Fiori Musicali," Op. 12 (1635) and Domenico Zipoli's "Sonate d'Intavolatura per Organo e Cimbalo," Op. 1 (1716).
Vivaldi Four Seasons for Harp
Sunday, 21 January 2024 | 6:00PM
Lapsi Church, St Julians
Keziah Thomas – Harpist
The timeless beauty of Vivaldi's Four Seasons performed by harpist Keziah Thomas. Originally composed as violin concertos, this work represents each season with vivid and picturesque music that perfectly captures the essence of nature's changing cycles.
San Giovanni Battista: Oratorio by Alessandro Stradella - Concert 1
Monday, 22 January 2024 | 7:30PM
St John's Oratory (St. John's Co-Cathedral), Valletta
Valletta Baroque Ensemble dir. Steven Devine
The Valletta Baroque Ensemble will perform Alessandro Stradella's oratorio San Giovanni Battista in the oratory of St John's Co-Cathedral under Caravaggio's iconic Beheading of St. John the Baptist, which is the artist’s largest and only signed masterpiece. Stradella's music blends opera and sacred drama, showcasing his liveliness, expressiveness, and profound humanity. Although premiered in 1675, the work was only rediscovered in 1949, with Maria Callas singing the role of Salome in Perugia.
The Art of Song - When Baroque Meets Jazz
Tuesday, 23 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Rita Maria & Filipe Raposo
The Art of Song project explores an eclectic repertoire of erudite and popular composers of different generations and backgrounds through a collection of albums. The first volume, The Art of Song - When Baroque Meets Jazz, synthesises the confluence of musical genres, exploring the link between Baroque and Jazz.
San Giovanni Battista: Oratorio by Alessandro Stradella - Concert 2
Tuesday, 23 January 2024 | 7:30PM
St John's Oratory (St. John's Co-Cathedral), Valletta
Valletta Baroque Ensemble dir. Steven Devine
The Valletta Baroque Ensemble and will perform Alessandro Stradella's oratorio San Giovanni Battista in the oratory of St John's Co-Cathedral under Caravaggio's iconic Beheading of St. John the Baptist, which is the artist’s largest and only signed masterpiece. Stradella's music blends opera and sacred drama, showcasing his liveliness, expressiveness, and profound humanity. Although premiered in 1675, the work was only rediscovered in 1949, with Maria Callas singing the role of Salome in Perugia.
Bach Cello Suites & More - Concert 1
Wednesday, 24 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Verdala Palace, Buskett
Sébastien Hurtaud
The first of this two-part concert features French cellist Sébastien Hurtaud, performing Bach 1st, 3rd and 4th Cello suites along with arrangements that he has created : . Bach’s Goldberg Variation no. 25 and the Lute Partita in C minor.
Farándula Castiza
Wednesday, 24 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Chamber of Commerce, Valletta
Forma Antiqva
Forma Antiqva, an ensemble made up of a trio of brothers, Daniel, Aaron and Pablo Zapico is set to perform a concert featuring a variety of music from the mid-18th century in Madrid. The programme will include works by renowned composers such as José de Nebra, Bernardo Álvarez Acero, and Santiago de Murcia, among others.
Goldberg Variations on Violin
Thursday, 25 January 2024 | 12:00PM
National Library of Malta, Valletta
Jorge Jiménez - Violin
Join Jorge Jiménez as he reimagines Bach's Goldberg Variations for solo violin in this groundbreaking arrangement. The complexity of the original piece is such that Jiménez had to recompose it to fit the violin. This unique transcription is the culmination of a two-year long project that has toured Poland, Spain, and the UK.
Café Telemann
Thursday, 25 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Chamber of Commerce, Valletta, Malta
FORMA ANTIQVA
Forma Antiqva designs this innovative program by adopting the model of Café Zimmermann, the legendary establishment in 18th-century Leipzig that hosted concerts by the Collegium Musicum, Telemann's own orchestra. The music will unfold naturally and pleasantly, without the formalities of a classical concert, and in sync with the atmosphere of social gatherings surrounding a good cup of coffee.
Bach Cello Suites & More - Concert 2
Friday, 26 January 2024 | 12:00PM
Verdala Palace, Buskett
Sébastien Hurtaud
The second of this two-part concert features French cellist Sébastien Hurtaud, performing the Bach 2nd, 5th and 6th cello suites along with arrangements that he has created including arrangements of St Matthew Passion - Aria; Erbarme Dich, Flute Sarabande from Partita in A minor and Violin Partita No. 3 in E major.
Rediscovering Abos
Friday, 26 January 2024 | 7:30PM
Tarxien Parish Church, Tarxien
The Abos Project and Consort - Dir. Marco Mencoboni
The Abos Project and Consort will be performing Music by Girolamo Abos. Abos was a Maltese-Italian composer of operas and church music, and studied under Leonardo Leo and Francesco Durante in Naples.
Unlimited Guitar
Saturday, 27 January 2024 | 12:30PM
Oratory of the Immacolata (Jesuits' Church), Valletta
Tariq Harb - Guitar
"The Unlimited Guitar" is the title of a programme of classical arrangements by Tariq Harb consisting of music by Bach, Vivaldi, Piazzolla, and even his own original compositions. In this programme, Harb displays the guitar's versatility, polyphonic capabilities, and its adaptive musical nature.
Le Triomphe de l'Amour - French love songs from Lully to Lambert
Saturday, 27 January 2024 | 5:30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Charlene Farrugia - piano and André Morsch - baritone
A captivating musical journey with 'Le triomphe de l'amour,' a harmonious blend of Lully, Rameau, Lambert, Debussy, and Poulenc. Explore the essence of love through enchanting sung poetry accompanied by mesmerising piano.
BaRock
Saturday, 27 January 2024 | 8:30PM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
The Rock Troupers & ProMużika Ensemble
The Valletta Baroque Festival will see the return of The Rock Troupers, accompanied by ProMużika Ensemble, with a fusion of rock and baroque classics. Their performance will include re-works of iconic pieces from Bach to Jon Lord and from Vivaldi to Pink Floyd, promising an explosive and innovative musical experience.
La Serva Padrona by Gian Battista Pergolesi (Children's Performance)
Sunday, 28 January 2024 | 11:30AM
Teatru Manoel, Valletta
Valletta Baroque Ensemble
Get ready for a fun-filled children’s performance of Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona; ‘the maid turned mistress’. A hilarious operatic intermezzo by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi that was originally staged between acts of his serious opera Il Prigionier Superbo. Set in a dressing room, this performance will have you and your children laughing from start to finish.