USHERING IN THE HOLY WEEK : SACRED MUSIC

The fourth edition of GAULITANA: A FESTIVAL OF MUSIC kicked off on March 27, 2010 with a concert entitled USHERING IN THE HOLY WEEK. This was held at Saint Augustine Church in Victoria, Gozo and started at 20:00. The concert featuring the Gaulitanus Choir and soloists was conducted by Colin Attard with Stephen Attard on the organ.

The programme consisted of sacred music by Felix Mendelssohn and Wolgang A. Mozart.The first part of the concert was devoted to Mendelssohn, with excerpts from the oratorio "St. Paul" and the motet "Hear my prayer". The former included 3 chorales for choir, interspread with 4 solos / duets. The latter were interpreted by soprano Sharon Wilson, alto Marthese Borg, tenor Joseph Calleja and bass Noel Galea.While Borg and Calleja are two of the choir’s own soloists, Galea was ropped in at the very last minute to replace the choir’s own bass soloist, Darren Vella, who was unfortunately indisposed. On the other hand British soprano Wilson was the evening special guest. Indeed she had most of the onus of the evening’s solos, including the beautiful motet mentioned earlier.

The second part of the concert was devoted to Mozart’s Mass in C Major – Kronungmesse (Coronation Mass), K. 317.The choir and the 4 soloists alternated with each other in this wonderful mass in 6 movements: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei.

The flowing strains of this mass seemed to fascinate the big audience – led by Victoria’s Mayor Dr. Samuel & Mrs. Azzopardi, and Mr. & Mrs. Anton Tabone ex-Speaker and acting President of the Republic – that filled St. Augustine’s Church.

The Gaulitanus Choir is looking forward for the upcoming event, A Foray at the MCI,scheduled for Monday April 5th, which starts at 18.30 hrs at the Grand Exhibition Hall, Hotel Le Méridien St. Julians, Malta. This one-off Malta event will feature the choir and its soloists in a concert entitled Sacred meets Profane.