Celebrating Independence at 60: parades, dinner at the Phoenicia, classical music

Malta celebrates 60 years from the fateful 21 September day of 1964 in which it became an independent nation, with national festivities that start tomorrow morning.

At 9am, the Armed Forces of Malta military band will march from the House of Representatives in Valletta to the President’s Palace on St John’s Square, where they will give the national salute to the President of the Republic, Myriam Spiteri Debono.

After the inspection of the Guard of Honour, the President will attend the pontifical mass at the St John’s Co-Cathedral, where a Te Deum chorale will also be broadcast live on Television Malta.

The President will then be joined by the Prime Minster and the Opposition leader to place a bouquet at the Independence monument in Floriana, followed by a 21-gun salute.

At 8pm, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Michael Laus and with the participation of mezzo soprano Marvic Monreal, will play a selection of pieces that will be broadcast from 9pm on TVM News+.

The concert is organised by Festivals Malta on behalf of the National Festivities Committee, and will be taking place at Republic Hall at the Mediterranean Conference Centre.

The programme performed on the night will be as follows: Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Camille Saint-Saens’s Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix (Samson et Dalilah), Ludwig van Beethoven’s King Stephen, Overture, Op. 117, Alexander Vella Gregory’s Rhythmii vitae, Augustin Lara’s Granada, Johannes Brahms’s St Anthony Variations, Georges Bizet’s Chanson Boheme (Carmen) and Charles Camilleri’s Mediterranean Dances.   

In Gozo, the Leone Band will present the Independence Day Concert, with Colin Attard directing the celebrated symphonic march Malta by Vincenzo Ciappara, the Lieto Avvenir gavotte by Orlando Crescimanno and La Serenata del Menestrello by Giovanni Giumarra. The concert then continues with Mascagni’s Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, Alfred Reed’s Little Concert Suite for Winds, Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite No. 2 and von Suppe’s Morning, Noon and Night overture.

The Independence Day Concert will be held on Saturday 21 September, starting at 7:30pm, open air at Independence Square, Victoria Gozo. Seating is on a first-come-first-served basis and free of charge.

And on the eve on Friday, 20th September, the state banquet at the Phoenicia Hotel that took place on the eve of Independence Day in 1964 will be recreated down to the finest detail complete with the menu, music and tableware of the time.

A Commemorative Independence Day Banquet, “meticulously designed to mirror the grandeur and elegance of the original dinner” will be organised at the Phoenicia, with Heritage Malta’s culinary arm, Taste Malta, showcasing tableware that was commissioned shortly after Independence by then prime minister Gorg Borg Olivier.

On the eve of Independence Day in 1964, the royal party, including the Duke of Edinburgh, Borg Olivier, who set the September 21 date for the important milestone, and other dignitaries attended a state banquet at the hotel’s Grand Ballroom before making their way to the Independence Arena, in Floriana at midnight for the flag-raising ceremony.

The extensive collection of pure Maltese silver, semi-crystal glassware and Royal Doulton gold-trimmed porcelain, stored at the Grand Master’s Palace, was used at the Auberge d’Aragon, the prime minister’s seat before Castille, and in Maltese embassies, said Heritage Malta’s senior curator and collection manager, Emmanuel Magro Conti.

On Friday guests can take a closer look at the engraved coat of arms of Independent Malta, depicting dolphin supports, and savour the same menu that was served on that historic evening 60 years ago.

It includes Scottish smoked salmon, pottage St Germain and tournedos Princess, topped off with a soufflé ‘Sun Island’.

The organisers have also dug up a list of songs played during a concert that was part of the original celebrations and have engaged Dominic Galea and his band to play some of these tunes during the meal.

Photos from that evening 60 years ago have been sourced and helped to recreate the scene, although the hotel is opting for a different table setup that will offer a “similar feel”.

Held in the ballroom again, it is being attended by President Myriam Spiteri Debono.