Two more Christmas concerts

The streetscape is outside the cave dwellings we passed on our walk from Golden Sands to Xemxija that I talk about in my last post.

I have fitted in two more concerts at St Catherine of Italy since my previous post about the programme at this lovely old chapel in Valletta.  The restoration of the inside of the chapel will proceed in January and a sponsor has been found for the restoration of the cupola.  I also called in to the National Museum of Fine Arts where they are showing the restored painting of the martyrdom of St Catherine by Matthia Preti which will eventually go back into place behind the main altar.  It was interesting to see this painting in the same space as another of the same theme also by Preti but in that one, the executioner is not looking out at the viewer for the signal to proceed and I find it a much less dramatic piece.

The first concert was Thursday lunchtime and was 'A Medieval to Baroque Christmas' featuring the organ with Alex Vella Gregory and soprano Pauline Longo.  The concert took the form of carols and readings about the nativity with carols spanning 700 years and five languages.  We concluded by joining in to sing 'O Come All Ye Faithful'.  I am finding that in Malta, Christmas is taken very seriously as well as joyously.  I am hoping I'll get to a midnight mass on Christmas Eve because traditionally at midnight baby Jesus is placed in the hitherto empty crib and a young boy from the local parish is chosen to give the sermon.  These days, there is even talk about the possibility of having a young girl perform this role but I'm not sure if that has actually happened yet.

Sunday's concert was 'Christmas with the Consort' and was the end of year celebration by St James Consort, the excellent group of musicians led by Sara Spiteri who are the backbone of this series of concerts at St Catherine's.  Once again they had chosen a thoughtful progression of sinfonia and concerto from the Baroque era, this time with a pastoral Christmas theme.  Sara pointed out how the sequence of pieces from lesser known and earlier composers such as Valentini through Torelli, Manfredini, Ferrandini and Corelli was marked by the addition of instruments.  The concert started with harpsichord, violins and bases, adding violas and finally flutes.

The concert was great and there was lengthy applause at the end.  The mulled wine and traditional Maltese cakes were an added bonus!