Teatru Manoel is finally reopening its doors on October 29 after the pandemic-enforced hiatus with one mission: to attract as diverse an audience as possible an
The 15th International Spring Orchestra Festival, titled Degenerates, will run from June 15 to 19.
Karl Fiorini, its artistic director, discusses the various challenges this year’s edition had to overcome and the meaning behind its title.
Unlike many professional musicians, composer Karl Fiorini started his musical studies relatively late. When he was 10, he sat at his sister’s new piano and that moment changed the course of his life. “I played a note and saw a rainbow,” he remembers. “I then started deciphering the notes on my sister’s music books, and immediately wanted to play and write music.”
Fiorini has come a long way since then and has, to date, written over 50 compositions, ranging from chamber music to orchestral works. Apart from composing, Fiorini is also the artistic director of the annual International Spring Orchestra Festival (ISOF), which features concerts of chamber music, recitals and orchestral music.
The 15th edition of the International Spring Orchestra Festival (ISOF) will be taking place next month.
Inspired by music from Germany labelled ‘Degenerate’ and banned by the Nazi authorities between 1933 and 1945, the ISOF will host seven concerts over five days in various locations, mainly in Valletta.
International guest artists – including some familiar faces on the local classical music scene – are flying in from all over Europe to join their Maltese counterparts.
“Despite the pandemic-imposed delay, the International Spring Orchestra Festival remains a highlight of Malta’s cultural calendar,” artistic director Karl Fiorini says.
“Year in and out, it attracts fresh blood in the form of music new to Malta that has been regarded for decades as ‘modern repertoire’.”