'Love, Betrayal… Food'
What do the pleasures (love, food) and challenges (betrayal) of life have in common? All these are as old as man and have attracted composers along the centuries to create music for stories which concern these themes.
On the occasion of the Notte Gozitana celebrating the Lapsi weekend, Soprano Marouska Attard will be giving a vocal recital at the Gozo Ministry Hall on Saturday 19th May at 9pm. She will be executing arias from early Baroque operas composed by Vivaldi, Handel and Pergolesi, from musica da camera by Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini and also some American art songs by Ives and Bernstein. Miss Christine Zerafa will accompany her on the piano.
Soprano Marouska Attard started her musical studies at the age of 5 at the Gozo School of Music. She holds a Grade 8 distinction from the Royal Schools of Music for Violin Performance. As much as she loves the violin, Marouska is now concentrating on her voice and is privately tutored by Juliette Bisazza. Attard began studying with Claire Massa seven years ago. She is currently undertaking a preparatory year on the path to gaining a Masters degree. Having already achieved a B.A. (Hons.) in Music and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Music Education from the University of Malta, in 2008 she achieved her Grade 8 in Voice Performance, winning the Board Winner Prize, and in 2009 the DipABRSM.
A large and important part of Attard's life is the Schola Cantorum Jubilate, one of the top ranks of choirs on the Maltese islands. She has been the director of this eminent choir since the year 2000, when it began as a group of friends and went from strength to strength under her dedicated direction. Performing in venues at home and abroad, the choir has visited Corsica for 'Recontres des Musicales' in November 2003; a musical-cultural tour in Rome and Assisi in September 2007 and another in Vienna, Linz and Salzburg in August 2009. Linz was then the European Cultural City and the choir performed at the Old Cathedral of Linz as part of the activities held on the occasion.
Pianist Christine Zerafa has recently completed a Masters degree (MMus) in Solo Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music, under the tuition of Paul Janes and Norma Fisher. Prior to her studies in the U.K, she studied in Malta with Ramona Zammit Formosa at the Johann Strauss School of Music and later with Joanne Camilleri, under whose tutorship she obtained her LRSM with distinction. Christine has been recipient of various awards, including first prize in the 11th Bice Mizzi Competition, the prestigious RNCM Clifton Helliwel Memorial Award, and her studies were kindly supported by the Janatha Stubbs Foundation, Malta Arts Fund and the Silverstone bursary.
'Love, Betrayal… Food' will be repeated at St. James Cavalier, Valletta on Wednesday 23rd May at 12.30pm. This is surely an occasion which all music lovers should not miss.
