The Monteverdi Project was devised by Kenneth Zammit Tabona, the artistic director of Teatru Manoel and the Valletta International Baroque Festival. He engaged Maestro Marco Mencoboni, who is considered to be one of the leading specialists of Baroque and Renaissance music, to run the project.
Since July he has been training a consort of singers monthly, selected through auditions, and the VIBE (Valletta International Baroque Ensemble) musicians on ensemble work and baroque vocal and musical techniques. The masterclasses focus on Claudio Monteverdi and contemporaries and will lead towards two concerts.
“We started by selecting a number of Maltese singers who were new to early music. After just a few sessions, a strong interest in this music quickly developed, coming from the discovery of a new, fascinating world. We have a great deal of work ahead of us, and it will take time, but the beginning of the journey is really inspiring.” – Maestro Mencoboni
c. Justin Mamo
The project is supported by Valletta 2018 Foundation and Anabalat Ltd. The ultimate aim of the project is to stage the three Monteverdi operas at Teatru Manoel through coproduction with other similar sized theatres.
“Monteverdi is the perfect meeting point of Renaissance and Baroque. In his personality, two different artistic conceptions find the perfect match. While his work might be perceived as the culmination of certain aspects of Renaissance musical thought, he was also a visionary of the Baroque period, whose perspective was much broader than that of his contemporaries. He was an architect and an engineer, a poet and a writer, a painter and a sculptor, just using musical notes.” – Maestro Mencoboni
2 concerts are coming up:
- 21st of December 17
For the December concert Mencoboni prepared a Christmas concert that will focus on Monterverdi’s contemporaries including Cantata no 51 Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen , for soprano, trumpet, strings and continuo by Johann Sebastian Bach, Concerto Grosso no 8 Fatto per la notte di Natale by Arcangelo Corelli and a the Messa Pastorale by Benigno Zerafa.
Venue: St Gregory’s Church in Żejtun
- 25th January 2018
The January concert will focus on Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin.
Venue: St Catherine’s Church in Żejtun