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4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MAY 2018 THIS WEEK MUSIC Could you delve a little bit into the main raison d'etre behind Modern Music Days, and how it has evolved since its initial stages to now? Modern Music Days (MMD) started in 2014 with the mis- sion to promote the perfor- mance and understanding of contemporary music and 20th century repertoire in Malta. MMD is organised by a consortium of three partners: Teatru Manoel, the Malta As- sociation for Contemporary Music and the Valletta 2018 Foundation. This initiative has always been part of the culture programme for Val- letta 2018 – European Capital of Culture. As artistic director of MMD I wanted to adopt an interdisciplinary approach. This has two main benefits: connecting musicians and composers with other art- ists; and attracting audiences from different creative areas. For Rhythms of Vision, held in February 2017, we com- missioned seven visual artists to create a video for a given piece of music. The video was presented as a backdrop to the live performance of the music at Teatru Manoel. This created an intriguing dialogue between the video narrative and the music. The event at- tracted an audience interest- ed in contemporary music as well as contemporary art. The same programme without the visual narrative would have attracted a much smaller au- dience. Do you think there's a par- ticular lacuna when it comes to modern and contempo- rary music in Malta? Why do you think this has hap- pened, and what kind of effect has this had on local musicians and their work? The answer to this question is a complex one. There is cer- tainly a lacuna when it comes to contemporary music on the local art scene. I often feel like Malta has missed out on a century of music. The inno- vations of 20th century music bypassed Malta completely. Our theatres were not keep- ing up to speed with the mas- terworks of the past century. It's like going through the sixties and not being aware of The Beatles. What classical music was being performed in Malta in 1917 when there was the riot at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées during the premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring? … and in 1941 when Messiaen premiered his "Quartet for the End of Time" while he was a prisoner of war in German captivity? … and in 1950 when Stockhausen presented his electronic mu- sic work "Kontakte" in Co- logne? It's not easy to specu- late why. The island reality of Malta does not help … but on the other hand Iceland boasts one of the most active avant- garde art scenes. How does Modern Music Days aim to address this? One of the objectives with MMD is to present landmark 20th century works in Malta. On June 9 MMD is organising a concert at Teatru Manoel with a programme of four masterworks: "Concerto for 13 instruments" by György Ligeti is one of the most beau- tiful, engaging and important chamber works of the 20th century; "Tehillim" by Steve Reich is a masterpiece of min- imalist music; Britten's "Sin- fonietta Op. 1" is a prodigious work written when the com- poser was just 18 years old; "Octandre" by Edgard Varèse sounds as radical and avant- garde as when it was written, almost a century ago. The Maltese public should be exposed to this music in the same manner as it should be exposed to the paintings of Picasso and Miro… or the architecture of Renzo Piano. This repertoire constitutes an unbroken line between Vival- di and Varèse… Rameau and Reich. However, this project is not just about presenting the music. The concert will include selected musicians from the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brno Con- temporary Orchestra (Czech Republic) under the direction of Pavel Snajdr who is special- ised in this repertoire. MMD is creating the opportunity for local musicians to learn how to approach this music by providing the necessary professional coaching and support. What's next for Modern Music Days? On July 27, MMD is present- ing a new version of the bal- let "Parade" at Teatru Manoel featuring the music of Sa- tie with costume design and scenography inspired by the original Picasso sketches; On September 15, MMD is pre- senting an interdisciplinary showcase of contemporary music, dance and electronic music as part of the Evenings on Campus series. Further- more, this year MMD is pre- senting six concerts in her- itage sites across Malta and Gozo. The ethos behind his 'regional concert series' is to take music out of the concert hall into the community. The venues have been carefully selected for their unique aes- thetics, historical narrative and intimate setting. In April we premiered a site specific electronic music work by Dutch composer Luc Houtkamp at Ta' Bistra Cata- combs in Mosta in collabora- tion with Heritage Malta and in May we organised a piano recital at The Victor Pas- more Gallery which inhabits a 1640s-gunpowder magazine (polverista) within Valletta's outer fortification walls. The modernist injection As Modern Music Days preps for another show at the Manoel Theatre in June, its artistic director Ruben Zahra speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about how 'Tehillim – 20th Century Masterworks' will seek to fix a historical gap in Malta's exposure to modern classical music "The Maltese public should be exposed to this music in the same manner as it should be exposed to the paintings of Picasso and Miro… or the architecture of Renzo Piano" The concert will include selected musicians from the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brno Contemporary Orchestra (pictured)