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xxx xxxx maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 DECEMBER 2018 5 THIS WEEK MUSIC Could you tell us a little bit about what we can expect, and what Cappella Sanctae Catharinae hopes to contribute to this initiative? CSC will be tackling music in early modern Malta. We will be moving from plainchant to the Early Baroque period, all the while put- ting it into its proper historical context. We will be singing some chants taken from the Royas Graduals (held at the Mdina Cathe- dral Archives) and the L'Isle Adam Choral Books (held at the St John's Co-Cathedral Archives). Moreover, we will be singing works by composers whose works are rep- resented in the important Mdina Cathedral Archive Collection, including Monteverdi and Isabella Leonarda, a rare example of a female 17th century composer. As a little Christmas gift we will also be reviving an old Maltese carol which we collected from Mr. J Zammit from Birkirkara which forms part of our ongoing project on salvaging and reviv- ing our musical heritage. Cappella Sanctae Catharinae will be performing at the Oratory of St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta on December 14 at 7pm, as part of Music in Malta: From Prehistory to Vinyl. For more informa- tion and bookings, log on to: www.mu- sicinmalta.com. The event and exhibition are organised by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti Power-feasting to Christmas 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 ap- proached 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 long- standing team, Stefania and my- self have always strived to come up with innovative ideas for per- formances and so we pushed for- ward 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 origi- nal script written by Lucienne Camilleri. It is a story about the sacrifice of a mother's love to- wards 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 en- tire cast has worked to combine music, movement and song to create a magnificent show incor- porating 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 com- bines the efforts of Paul Barbara, David Cassar Torreggiani, Josef Farrugia, Edward Grech, Patrick Camilleri and Robert Galea to de- liver a rock concert that appeals to people of all ages. The band are also joined by Ry- an Paul Abela to give his input on music arrangements and direc- tion of the string instruments and choir. In addition to the band, there are also the rock and clas- sical vocal talents of Chris Grech, Neville Refalo, Nadia Vella and Stefania Grech, amongst oth- ers 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 Man- gion and Crispin Gauci Peresso. We are very excited to be work- ing 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. Ghosts of Christmas Past will be staged at the Valletta Cam- pus Theatre on December 13-16. Bookings: www.ticketline.com.mt TEODOR RELJIC catches up with Lucienne Camilleri and Yandrick Agius about Ghosts of Christmas Past, an upcoming DLS Production giving a rock twist to the Christmas tradition