'Music from the Chapel' is one of the concerts organised for the upcoming Notte Gozitana. The Chapel at the Sacred Heart Seminary in Victoria will open its doors for a concert featuring soprano Marouska Attard accompanied by Pianist Sofia Narmania.
Throughout the centuries, composers always sought their musical inspiration from the sacred text of the Holy Scriptures. In this vocal recital Marouska Attard will be performing sacred arias from oratorios by Bach and Handel and sacred motets by Mozart, Fauré, Brodsky and by the Maltese composer Paul Portelli.
Marouska Attard holds a B. A. (Hons.) in Music and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Music Education from the University of Malta. She has also achieved her Grade 8 with distinction in Violin Performance from the Royal School of Music and a Grade 8 in Voice Performance, wining the Board Winner Prize in 2008 and the following year obtained also the Dip ABRSM. 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. A large and important part of her 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 both locally and abroad.
As a soloist in her own right, Marouska already has a wealth of experience, appearing in concerts at St John's Co-Cathedral; as Belinda in Dido and Aeneas; Dimitri in Fedora; in Johannes Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzer and Henze's Moralities; in The Magic Flute as one of The Three Ladies and recently in the Britten operas, Noah's Flood and Little Sweep. She is proud to have participated in concerts at the Manoel Theatre and St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity and in March 2009, the young composer Alex Vella Gregory invited her to perform at the premier of his new work, 'Saffi'. The composer himself accompanied her rendition of the 'Ħames Għanjiet'.
Pianist Sofia Narmania Highly qualified concert pianist Sofia Narmania was born in the Republic of Abkhazia (USSR) within a family of musicians and at a very young age she already demonstrated her outstanding musicianship. At the age of 8 she won the all republic piano competition "Rising Star". At 10 she won great public acclaim playing Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto. She was invited to continue her music education at the Pre-conservatoire Music School in Moscow. In 2001 she entered the Moscow State Conservatoire studying with celebrated Russian piano Professor Irina Plotnikova. During her years of education Sofia appeared on the concert stage as a soloist with many orchestras, and gave several recitals in the main halls of Moscow and other cities. Since 2000 she takes part in the annual International Music Festival "Khibla Gerzmava" both as a soloist and accompanist. She also took part in many master classes with various renowned professors. In 2009 she successfully completed a three year Postgraduate course at the same Conservatoire. Sofia has won a number of awards and prizes in international piano competitions in Russia like the Schostakovich Piano Competition in Volgotonsk in 1999, and in Italy the International Piano Competition in Bari in 2010. Her repertoire is wide and diverse and includes works from Scarlatti to Ginastera.
'Music from the Chapel' will be held next Saturday 11th May 2013 at 8pm at the Chapel within the Sacred Heart Seminary of the Diocese of Gozo. Entrance is free and everyone is invited. This private chapel which is specifically used by the Seminarians for their daily services will be open for the public. It will also be possible to visit the seminary on this special occasion. One can see the lecture rooms and other common rooms where particular youths get their priestly formation and tertiary education. Though it is in the heart of the hectic Gozitan capital, one can still feel the sense of tranquility which the place inspires.
