Out of the three dozen operas that Mozart composed, only a handful are typically performed. For the second edition of the Valletta Early Opera Festival, Festivals Malta in collaboration with Teatru Manoel presents and enchanting rendition of Il Re Pastore. During this year’s edition of VEOF, the event returns with one of Mozart’s underappreciated pieces, with the return of Maestro Giulio Prandi at the helm of the orchestral ensemble in this tale of war, starcrossed lovers and triumph from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s earlier repertoire; a piece which Mozart composed when still only 19 years old. Comparable to the quartet of lovers present in his famed Così Fan Tutte, Il Re Pastore is a piece that engages with similar themes through an Italian libretto by Metastasio.