Dance company and harpist announced for Malta Arts Festival

Arts Council Malta announced two more events for this year’s Malta International Arts Festival (MIAF), which will be taking place between the July 8 and 18 in various locations, providing Maltese audiences a wide choice of performances of exceptional quality. 

This week’s events promote local artists, with a collaboration of local musicians and dancers for Moveo Dance Company’s D.O.K., and a recital by Maltese harpist Caroline Calleja.

In this recital, Calleja will be perfoming works by Grandjany, Zabel, Salzedo, Tailleferre and Fauré in the Fortress Builders centre in Valletta on July 9. Calleja is first-prize winner of various competitions, including the Bice Mizzi Vassallo Competition (1995 and 1997), the Young Musicians’ Competition (1997), the EPTA National Piano Competition (1998) and the Tchaikovsky Piano Award (2000).

She has performed extensively both in Malta and abroad, and has worked closely with internationally renowned musicians at the Dartington International Summer School in Devon, the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and the Moscow State Conservatory in Russia. 

In 2003, Calleja was invited to tour Italy and France with the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra. Calleja studied piano and harp performance at the Conservatoire National de Region de Lyon in France, where she was awarded the Medaille d’Or in piano and Diplôme de Fin d’Etudes with distinction in harp. 

Music is blended together with dance in D.O.K., a Maltese work with different artists working together as equal partners, creating a harmonious experience where the expressions of dance, voice and music come together, leading to a commitment to teamwork, exploration and inter-disciplinary practice. 

The work, conceived by Moveo Dance Company’s Artistic Director and choreographer Dorian Mallia, with the participation of soprano Miriam Cauchi and musicians Simon Abdilla Joslin and Albert Garzia, inspired by the music of the Maltese composer Charles Camilleri will be held on July 13 at Fort St Elmo, Valletta.

Moveo Dance Company, founded in 2005, focuses its work on the study of the body in motion, within a whole spectrum of possibilities including identity, as well as cultural and social behaviours.

Further details about these and other events can be obtained from www.maltaartsfestival.org. More events will be published every Friday, with the complete programme unveiled by Wednesday, May 4.  Early bird tickets will be available from May 4 up to June 7, and regular tickets will be available thereafter