Malta International Arts Festival celebrates 10th anniversary

A gathering of local and international artists and performers across various venues in Valletta, the Malta International Arts Festival will this year take place between July 10 to August 3, aiming for a multidisciplinary approach and also including initiatives such as workshops and master classes.

This year’s programme was put together by an artistic committee, all of whom are artists themselves, led by the MIAF Artistic Director Michelle Castelletti, together with composer Ruben Zahra, choreographer Francesca Tranter, and Riccardo Carbutti, cultural project manager from Italy.

“I am thrilled, honoured and proud to be presenting, together with a phenomenal team of people, the Malta International Arts Festival.  MIAF2015 is a statement.  It is a summoning through pens and minds. It is a coming together of different approaches, different mentalities, different media, different cultures… all with a common core of artistic integrity and excellence,” Castelletti said.

“MIAF2015 reaches out to the public and engages with the wider society, bringing Art to the people with its fresh, new approach and with an underlying remit to help lead Malta towards European Capital of Culture in 2018.  MIAF2015 crosses boundaries and promotes freedom of artistic expression in multidisciplinary fashion, creating a programme of events that is exciting and innovative through celebrating the past, but promoting the Art of our Time,” she added.

Among this year’s classical highlights are world-renowned classical pianist and Debussy specialist Noriko Ogawa from Japan, as well as Talich Quartet – one of the world’s finest string quartets, internationally-recognized as torchbearers for Czech musical tradition across the globe.  Led by our very own Marcelline Agius (leader of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra) with pianist Joanne Camilleri, Bar-to-Bar Quintet will be performing an energetic Shostakovich and Bartók at the Palace Courtyard.  

Commissioned by the Silk Road Art Music Festival of Hong Kong, we bring a multidisciplinary performance by two of the most respected ensembles of Mediterranean musical tradition, En Chordais and Constantinople, who join forces to recreate a colourful musical journey in tribute of Marco Polo.  

Again forging new international links, the MIAF welcomes EU-funded Meeting the Odyssey – a social and artistic collaborative project set on the ship named Hoppet that set sail in the Baltic in 2014 in a journey of discovery through constantly changing artistic landscapes and cultural attitudes, developing synergies across Europe.

After having played over 20,000 performances to more than 12 million people around the globe, the multi award-winning phenomenon STOMP from the UK makes its debut appearance in Malta at the Festival. With their blend of rhythm, theatre, comedy and dance, this promises to be a spectacular show for audiences of all ages. 

Under the direction of Israeli choreographer Rami Be’er, the much-acclaimed Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company will be performing their original piece If At All, a moving theatrical event in figurative and abstract dance. The newly-launched national ŻfinMalta Dance Company will be creating a contemporary adaptation of Mallarmé’s 1876 L’Après-midi d’un Faune, with their original production choreographed by Mavin Khoo. 

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra will be one of the celebrations of the festival with a programme that is open air and free for the public at St George’s Square, Valletta on July 26.

Other local productions include Faith, Hope u Charity, an epic drama scripted by local author Immanuel Mifsud and directed by Josette Ciappara, which is set in Malta at the start of the Second World War; and, following their highly successful sold-out run last year, Kelma Kelma Nota Nota shall be returning with another performance packed with traditional Maltese prose, poetry and songs given a contemporary twist. Our newly-launched MIAF+ will be forging new partnerships and creating new links across the artistic communities in Malta.

One of the strongest statements of the festival will be the opening night with Pendulum Choir - an original choral piece for 9 a cappella voices and 18 hydraulic jacks, creating a living, sonorous body at the entrance of Valletta.  Conceived and constructed by Michel Décosterd with composition by André Décosterd, interpreted by Jeune Opéra Copagnie – Les voix and directed by Nicolas Farine, this multi-award-winning creation has been presented all over the world and will be free for the Maltese public on July 10.  

Experimental and multidisciplinarian, Miguel Chevalier, also comes to Malta with a new commission – Pixels Wave 2015, a generative and interactive virtual reality installation with a giant carpet of moving lights that will fill Republic Street at City Gate, which will open on July 10 and remain throughout the festival.

For more information and the latest updates on all the Festival’s events visit www.maltaartsfestival.org