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11 gozotoday | FRIDAY • 13 DECEMBER 2024 CULTURE from Portugal concert tour John Camilleri, was in attend- ance. The choir then proceeded its jouney towards Lisbon, its base for the rest of the concert tour. The group spent Sunday morn- ing sighseeing Lisbon's principal sights, accompanied by Embassy official Mario Buttigieg, before congregating at the Panteão Na- cional in the afternoon. Again, the choir was given an exclusive tour of this historic and grandiose structure – with its terrace offering an extended view of the city and the Tagus River – led by the Panteão's high-ranking official Ana Carolina Coelho. A concert in this wonderful site with its very particular acoustics followed. Violinist Pierre Louis Attard opened the proceeding with some instrumental numbers, be- fore the Gaulitanus Choir took centre stage for the rest of the programme. The audience, led by the Maltese Ambassador to Portugal, John Camilleri, and the Panteão's director, Santiago Macias, was very much recep- tive, generously acknowledging the performance of each excerpt before finally giving a standing ovation. Again, the choir reciprocated by giving some encores. Where- as Mro Attard and Macias ex- changed mementos, the former expressed the choir's gratitude for being given the opportunity to perform in this iconic venue as well as for being invited to Portu- gal, and presented other memen- tos to Camilleri, Buttigieg and Coelho. Monday was reserved for a long day of sightseeing Lisbon's very beautiful sites, before the choir's final artistic commitment in the evening at the very charming Ig- reja de São Sebastião da Pedreira. The Gaulitanus first ani- mated the mass celebrated by Monsignor Antonio Teixeira, a high-ranking official at the Vati- can's Nunciature in Portugal, and then gave a short recital. Whereas the Monsignor warm- ly acknowledged the choir's par- ticipation after the communion with the congregation joining with a hearty applause, a stand- ing ovation was also given after the short recital. The Ambassador, the Monsig- nor, Buttigieg and the church's administrator Miguel de Pape were all in attendance, with the latter also showing his profound appreciation by offering a token to the choir. This exciting Portugal concert tour, which was supported by VisitMalta and the Cultural Her- itage Directorate of the Ministry for Gozo and Planning, came to an end on Tuesday 3 Decem- ber, when the group returned to Malta after a final quick stroll through Lisbon in the morning. In line with the Gaulitanus Choir's role as a foremost am- bassador of Maltese and Gozitan music and culture abroad, the repertoire performed consist- ed essentially of Maltese and Gozitan music, and with the full programme of events fittingly en- titled 'Sons de Malta'. It featured compositions by Emmanuel Galea, Carmelo Pace, Giuseppe Caruana, Colin Attard, Pierre Louis Attard and Joseph Vella, mostly in the vernacular, with the latter's 'Innu lil Għaw- dex' performed for the first time ever in an 'a cappella' version for mixed choir. This repertoire also featured a few of the choir's soloists, name- ly soprano Annabelle Zammit as well as sopranos Patricia Borg, Antonella Portelli, tenors Chris- tian Tanti and Alfred Cauchi and baritone Robert Xerri. The Portugal concert tour was the Gaulitanus Choir's third for- ay abroad in 2024 after a concert tour in Rome, Italy, in June and its very prestigious participation in Puccini's opera 'Manon Lescaut' at the Teatro Antico, Taormina, Italy, in July. These ventures were part of the organisation's broader calendar of international events for 2024, which also included Colin At- tard's chairing of the adjudicating board at the 13th edition of the 'Concorso Internazionale Cit- tà di Massa', Italy, and Attard's conducting the Ion Dimitrescu Philharmonic in a symphonic concert in Ramnicu Valcea, Ro- mania, also with the participation of the Gaulitana Festival's coordi- nator Pierre Louis Attard as solo violinist. The choir animated mass at the Basílica de Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Fatima (above) and at the Igreja de São Sebastião da Pedreira in Lisbbon (right)