Notte Bianca, Malta’s biggest annual arts and culture festival, returns this October with a fresh identity and image encapsulated in its new tagline ‘Where arts bring the city to life’.

For one evening on October 5th, Valletta will be transformed into a stage for art forms of all kinds, with hundreds of artists showing case their talents from music, dance, theatre, visual arts, literary events and more.

Streets and public spaces will be transformed into a mix of roaming and site-specific projects exhibiting over 200 local and international artists over 50 different acts.

This year’s edition of Notte Bianca features a particularly interesting event organised by the Valletta Cultural Agency and Festival Malta known as ‘Orkestra fil-Miftuħ’, a musical journey at Pjazza Teatru Rjal featuring the Malta Youth Orchestra, tenor Cliff Zammit Stevens, mezzo soprano Clare Ghigo and singer Jasmine Abela.

Other highlights include ‘il-lejla, llejla!’ , a live music concert at Pjazza San Ġorġ featuring Owen Leuellen, Sterjotipi, Skald, Vinyl Paradise, JJoy and international DJ Christina Novelli; an acoustic classical performance at MUŻA; a piano concerto from the Vatican’s very own Maestro Libertucci at St John’s Co-Cathedral; dance projects in Upper Barrakka Gardens and ‘it-Tfalja li Stunat’, a musical comedy within the Law Courts of Malta.

This is also the first time that the Courts of Justice will be open to the public for an exhibition.

“(Notte Bianca is) a spectacular night that is only made possible by a dedicated team of over 100 people who work tirelessly to make this festival the success that it is,” said Minister for Justice, Culture and Local Government, Owen Bonnici, at the launch of the event.

Festivalgoers may be overwhelmed by what to attend and where to go, but thankfully Festival Malta has launched a 2019 programme with a new visitor strategy categorised into seven routes according to their specific art.