Power-feasting to Christmas | Lucienne Camilleri & Yandrick Agius

How did the project come about, and what was the main motivation to combine a rock music with a Christmas theme?

Stefania Grech and I were approached by Stefan Farrugia with the scope of putting up a Christmas concert. He wanted something different and since he was part of the band in Belliegha Rockin’ The Underworld, he had seen the quality of our work and he was convinced we would all work well together. As a longstanding team, Stefania and myself have always strived to come up with innovative ideas for performances and so we pushed forward this very idea to combine a storyline with music and singing.

Could you tell us a little bit about the narrative behind the project, and how it ties in with the look and feel of the music?

The narrative was an original script written by Lucienne Camilleri. It is a story about the sacrifice of a mother’s love towards her son, one similar to that of Mary and her son Jesus. We all know that Christmas is a time of love and reconciliation, a time of family and friendship, a time of miracles. The story is woven out of these very sentiments and it is held together by carols that are reminiscent of this beautiful time of the year. The music is centre stage, it transports the audience to another dimension and the entire cast has worked to combine music, movement and song to create a magnificent show incorporating well established singers and musicians.  

What can you say about the mix of musicians and performers involved?

As always, we are fortunate to have a talented cast and it is one which encompasses a large variety of different skills. The musicians are all well-known individuals in local rock bands who wanted to develop this concept further and perform together as the band ‘Symphusion’. The band is led by Stefan Farrugia and it combines the efforts of Paul Barbara, David Cassar Torreggiani, Josef Farrugia, Edward Grech, Patrick Camilleri and Robert Galea to deliver a rock concert that appeals to people of all ages.

The band are also joined by Ryan Paul Abela to give his input on music arrangements and direction of the string instruments and choir. In addition to the band, there are also the rock and classical vocal talents of Chris Grech, Neville Refalo, Nadia Vella and Stefania Grech, amongst others who are accompanied by a choir of sixteen powerful singers and four dancers who deliver the magic to the audience through contemporary movement.

As for the narrative aspect, the evening will be led by the four narrators: Emanuel Tabone and Laura Cornelius together with their teen companions Lisa Mangion and Crispin Gauci Peresso. We are very excited to be working on this new project and we are certain that the merge of all these elements is bound to be a spine-tingling, power-feasting journey to the spirit of Christmas.