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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 APRIL 2024 2 MUSIC A musical resurrection: Joe Vella's legacy lives on in 'Valeriana The Titan's Rock' BY KENNETH ZAMMIT TABONA I must have still been a teenager when Albert Storace persuaded me to join the Malta Choral So- ciety. At that age when you are in the process of discovering the beauty of the world around you without the aid of an iPhone the process can be overwhelming and in this case it certainly was. Being in a choir singing Vivaldi's Beatus Vir under the chimerical direction of someone like the late lamented Joe Vella was like expe- riencing shock treatment howev- er of the most pleasurable kind! Our Monday evening rehears- als in the echoey undercroft of St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral in Valletta were like an oasis of hap- piness. So many lifelong friends made who still are friends today… including of course Joe himself; charismatic and vital who ex- huded the energy and power of the music we performed. As our friendship grew and we experi- enced different choral genres like his lovely 'Music for a Wedding' composed especially for two cho- ral members Luke and Moira, it became more evident that Joe was a composer who was in love with the voice. One only has to listen to his madrigals especially 'Il-Lejla Il-Qamar Qed Jitwerreċ' to realise what total mastery over the capa- bilities of voice Joe had. This why it never ceased to puz- zle me that while Joe conducted a plethora of opera at the Astra and composed arias, cantatas, or- atorios, madrigals and goodness knows what else his operatic output was nil. Maybe at the time he thought it not worth the trouble when local theatres still struggled to attract audiences to Traviata or Boheme to com- pose a new work. So here we are in 2024 about to be treated to a totally original operatic work – Valeriana The Titan's Rock - which was left, like Turandot, incomplete and which Christopher Muscat finished off and will be conducting at the As- tra, Joe's theatre next month. I attended a rehearsal on Wednesday just to listen to the 'feel' of the music. I arrived in the middle of a love duet…. Beau- tifully lyrical and magnificently crafted. Vella certainly knew how to write for voice and this opera epitomizes that trait. With an English libretto and music's disposition, it is very rem- iniscent of Britten and Walton but with a character all of its own. It also boasts a rich and colorful orchestration for full orchestra. Leitmotifs abound for each char- acter as this is is a post Wagnerian opera wherein the music is sym- phonic and continual and arias and duets are sublimated in the music. Valeriana The Titan's Rock Opus 155 is based on an award-winning libretto by Vincent Vella. The opera tells the story of Ro- sario, a Maltese fisherman, who, having married a local girl, finds himself stranded on the tiny Ital- ian island of Valeriana during the Second World War. The island is under the charge of a despot- ic fascist podestà named Cirillo. Cirillo is a native of Valeriana and has known great deprivation as a child. He sees action in Africa and comes back to the island with a shattered arm. Having failed to convert Valeriana into another Capri for fascist officials, he now wants to turn it into an impreg- nable fortress against the Allied Forces, with dire consequences for the inhabitants. It is a comic situation, but one which can and does have tragic outcomes. Opera today all around the globe is experiencing a renaissance. To- day top opera houses present new operas by contemporary com- posers as a matter of course and I believe that is one of the great plusses of the IT revolution. The average opera goer is now ex- posed to operas that they never knew existed and this prepares them to experience and enjoy the genre in all its different forms from Claudio Monteverdi to John Adams. I am so looking forward to expe- riencing this opera the lyricism of which is so palpably Joe's which will definitely make me happy and sad at the same time. I'm sure Joe's spirit will be hovering about in his beloved Astra during rehearsals and the performance. May he then rest in peace. Valeriana The Titan's Rock is be- ing produced by Festivals Malta, on the occasion of the Maltabien- nale.art 2024, with the support of the Ministry for Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, and the Ministry for Gozo and Planning, and with the collaboration of Te- atru Astra. More information can be found on valeriana.mt.