د . إAEDSRر . س

Gotta Watch ‘Em All! 100+ Maltese Artists Unite For An Epic Festival Full Of Virtual Events

Article Featured Image

It’s never been as important to support and celebrate Malta’s art scene as it is in 2020. Festivals Malta’s The Malta International Arts Festival is an annual ode to creativity on the islands and beyond, and this year, despite having to shift to the virtual, MIAF will be as engaging as ever.

When?

The Malta International Arts Festival hits off this week, from 19th June till 5th July, and will feature hundreds of Malta’s finest performers from three disciplines – dance, music and theatre.

Where?

The whole festival can be viewed on the web, with the whole thing shown on MIAF’s Facebook page and on their website

What is it?

The 17-day programme consists of 17 video performances focusing on original monologues; classic music ensembles; powerful dance pieces with original live music; performances by impressively large artist collectives and a look at their highlight performances from last year.

You can read more about the full-line up here.

Impressively large artist collectives?

Yes, impressively large artist collectives. There will be three videos during the festival, featuring over 100 local artists! Let me give you a little run down of these three pieces: 

The MIAF Dance Collective

As the name suggests, this is a collaborative piece between 22 dancers, each contributing a short, original choreography – each performance will be crafted into a single, seamless dance piece. Which may or may not make you want to dust off your dancing shoes.

Kemm Hu Sabiħ

The next artist collective features a new arrangement of the Maltese classic Kemm hu Sabiħ, a song originally sung by the late Sammy Bartolo, composed by Paul Abela with lyrics by Ray Mahoney.

In collaboration with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, this project is produced and complemented by an arrangement scored by Kris Spiteri. This collective features 17 of Malta’s most prominent singers, each interpreting a verse from the song ‘Kemm Hu Sabiħ’ – resulting in a collage of voices united in solidarity, acting as a beacon of hope during such trying times. You can see this performance on Friday at 20:35pm.

Għanja ta’ Malta

This is a production in collaboration with Teatru Malta. This production features 50 actors as they recite the poem ‘L-Għanja ta’ Malta’ written by local, esteemed author Oliver Friġġieri.

The Archive Series

Luckily, last year’s edition of MIAF was well-documented, with full-length professionally filmed performances that have been archived for future use.

Now, for the 2020 edition, a selection of five of the most memorable performances from last year will be featured as part of ‘The Archive Series’ and released on social media for free.

But which performances will be streamed? Here’s the exciting lineup: Aquasonic, FLA.CO.MEN, Ancient Voices, Temple Percussion and Water Concerto.

These five videos will be released each weekend throughout the festival and they will remain available for viewing for the entirety of the festival. The first two videos from the Archive Series will premier this weekend at 20:35pm. 

With all that being said, all that’s left to do is grab your best buddies, find a bottle of wine and consider your plans for the next two weeks more or less sorted.

Tag someone who needs a little art in their lives!

READ NEXT: Hey Malta, Which Magnum Are You? Find Out And You Could Win A Whole Pack Of Ice Cream

Sam is a journalist, artist and writer based in Malta. Send her pictures of hands or need-to-know stories on politics or art on [email protected].
Sponsored By
Sponsored Logo
Festivals Malta
Visit Festivals Malta

You may also love

View All