Schola Cantorum Jubilate gave a concert yesterday at Saint Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Valletta. The concert preceded a three-day Master Class with Glen Dempsey, an organ scholar at Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, where he also conducts and accompanies the world famous choir. Choristers had the unique opportunity to imbue from the exceptional English choral tradition.
Glen Dempsey opened the concert with Gustav Holst’s ‘Jupiter from Planet Suite’ during which one could notice the agility and precision with which he masters the Organ. He also performed Olivier Messiaen’s ‘Dieu parmi nous’ from ‘La Nativité’.
The Choir subsequently performed the ‘Chichester Psalms’ followed by ‘Jubilate Deo’ and ‘Vrbe Nova’. The ‘Chichester Psalms’ is one of Bernstein’s masterpieces. The quartet soloists in this piece were Soprano Sephora Galea, Alto Cathrine Portelli, Tenor Marvic Cini, and Bass Geoffrey Bajada. The choir sang the first movement under the direction of Marouska Attard and Glen Dempsey accompanied on the organ.
‘Jubilate Deo’ was composed by Christopher Muscat who conducted the choir for Duruflé’s ‘Requiem’ last April. ‘Vrbe Nova’, composed by Ruben Zahra - artistic director of this project, was the last piece by a Maltese composer for the evening. It is a celebration of the foundation and history of Malta’s capital city, both as a fortress and a cultural hub in the middle of the Mediterranean. Soprano Marouska Attard sang the introductory solo part in Maltese.
The next piece the choir performed was ‘The Lamb’, composed by one of Britain’s greatest musicians. This Christmas motet builds a simple chant, like a nursery rhyme invested with tenderness that captures perfectly the Christian idea of a child ruling over the world through tenderness and love.
The fifth piece to be performed, ‘Sacred and Profane’, consisted of ‘I mon waxe wod’ and ‘Yif ic of luve can’. Both form part of a complete set of eight medieval lyrics Britten set to music in 1975. ‘I mon waxe wod’ correlates nature with madness while ‘Yic of luve can’ is based on the narrative of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The choir also performed ‘Even such is Time’, a piece which speaks to the heart. It is composed by Bob Chilcott, one of Britain’s most active composers and choral conductors. The lyrics of this piece are a poem by Sir Walter Raleigh, whose poems are nothing but a personal treatment of existential themes such as love and death.
The penultimate piece to be performed, Britten’s ‘Te Deum in C’ filled Saint Paul’s with a melodic and triumphant sound evoking the grandeur and majesty of God’s presence. The choir was directed by Marouska Attard and accompanied by Glen Dempsey on the organ. Treble Diana Formosa sang the solo part.
The choir concluded with Bernstein’s Chichester psalm which brought to an end the concert.
The choir took this challenge under the able direction of Marouska Attard aided by Sylvana Cini, and during the four weeks leading up to yesterday had the chance of discovering modern and contemporary pieces of choral music. Thanks to this hard work the choir today has a repertoire which includes modern and contemporary classical choral music, in line with well-established choirs in the United Kingdom and around the world.
