The Valletta Baroque Festival is back for one final week with more concerts at different venues.
Among the highlights, Simon Schembri will join the Valletta Baroque Ensemble for Italian Guitar Extravanganza, a performance of baroque music by Boccherini and Giuliani at the Museum of Archaeology, Valletta, on January 20 at 7.30pm.
Le Grande Chapelle will perform Tomás Luis De Victoria’s Marian motets of Vidi Speciosam Mass (1592), blending Renaissance melodic lines with medieval polyphony at St Paul’s basilica, Rabat, on January 21 at 7.30pm.
Goldberg Reflections, at the Casino Maltese on January 22 at 7.30pm, will see the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, together with multi-award-winning German pianist Nils Liepe and German classical violinist Niklas Liepe, in an intriguing blend of transcriptions and new compositions inspired by Goldberg.
The festival will reach its climax with the opera Pelopida, a recently rediscovered opera by Girolamo Abos, at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta, on January 23 and 25. Abos’s opera Pelopida was originally commissioned and performed in Rome’s Teatro Argentina in 1747. Arias, duos and trios have been included in concert programmes over the years. However, this is the first time in living memory that the opera will be performed in its entirety.
On January 24 at 8.30pm, BaRock at the Salesian Theatre in Sliema, will feature a fusion of rock and baroque classics. The Rock Troupers and the Pro Mużika Ensemble will present re-works of iconic pieces from Bach to Jon Lord and from Vivaldi to Pink Floyd.
For more information, visit festivals.mt/vbf. Tickets from showshappening.com.
X Factor Malta: Back to Win – live shows
X Factor Malta − Back to Win sees the return of some of the most unforgettable contestants from previous seasons of the talent show for a second chance at victory.
The live shows will be held at the MFCC in Ta’ Qali on January 25, February 1, 8, 15, 18 and 21.
Tickets from showshappening.com.
Aurora Resounds
The Aurora Opera House in Victoria, the seat of the Leone Philharmonic Society in Victoria, is kicking off its 50th anniversary celebrations with Aurora Resounds, an evening of film music by the Leone Band and conductor Colin Attard, on January 24 at 8pm.
Besides masterpieces from the history of film, the event will feature a display of cinema machinery, memorabilia, archive footage and interviews.
Tickets from teatruarurora.com.
The Aurora Opera House in Victoria.FILM
NT Live: Hamlet
Spazju Kreattiv is screening the National Theatre adaptation of Hamlet on January 22 at 7.30pm.
Olivier Award-winner Hiran Abeysekera (Life of Pi) stars in the title role in this fearless, contemporary take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Trapped between duty and doubt, surrounded by power and privilege, young Prince Hamlet dares to ask the ultimate question: “To be or not to be?”.
The sharp, stylish and darkly funny reimagining, directed by
National Theatre deputy artistic director Robert Hastie, is suitable for an audience aged 15+.
Tickets from spazjukreattiv.org.
Megadeth: Behind the Mask
Dave Mustaine pulls back the curtain on 40 years of Megadeth in this documentary being screened at the Eden Cinemas in St Julian’s on January 22 and 24.
Interwoven throughout, audiences will get to experience the world premiere of the US thrash metal band’s new self-titled album in full, brought to life with a career-spanning interview and Mustaine’s own track-by-track reflections about the band’s final studio album.
The documentary, directed by Casey Tebo, is certified 18. Tickets from edencinemas.com.mt.
Megadeth in a still from the documentary. Photo: Eden CinemasMISCELLANEOUS
Girolamo Manduca’s De Sancto Publio
The Jesuit Church’s Foundation is holding a public lecture at its oratories in Valletta on January 22 at 6.30pm.
Girolamo Manduca, among the earliest Maltese members of the Society of Jesus, undertook the compilation of local traditions concerning Publius, the protos of the island, who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, hosted the Apostle Paul and his shipwrecked companions for several days. Manduca is reputed to have drawn upon unspecified ancient sources − both textual and oral − in assembling these accounts.
For the past three centuries, certain details included in Manduca’s narrative have been widely regarded as historical facts: specifically, that Publius was appointed the first bishop of Malta and was subsequently transferred to Athens, where he met martyrdom.
This public lecture, to be delivered by Prof. Fr Jonathan Farrugia, will examine the passages in Manduca’s text that pertain explicitly to Malta, situating them within the historical context in which they were composed. It will also offer a plausible hypothesis concerning the construction of the figure of St Publius as martyr and first bishop of Malta during the early 17th century.
Entrance to the lecture is free but donations are welcome.
whatson@timesofmalta.com