The Classique Foundation will be presenting another Grand Operatic Concert, in a gala evening that brings opera music close to the hearts of the people together in one night.

The Minister for Gozo, Dr Anton Refalo, met with Joseph Debrincat – Conductor and Artistic Director of the Foundation and presented him with a cheque as part of the assistance given by the Ministry for Gozo to Gozitan entities and non-governmental organisations.

The Minister reiterated that the Government is committed to continue to support these types of iniatives that help the Gozitan tourism product to develop and grow, even during the shoulder months of the year.

The programme line-up is set to include arias and duets from the most popular operas by Verdi, Puccini, Boito, Donizetti, Giordano, Catalani, and Ponchielli among others. It will also feature overtures and ballet music from the operatic repertoire by Berlioz, Rossini, Bizet and Saint-Saens.

Ever committed to enhanced standards, the Classique Foundation has once again engaged the services of two internationally-renowned singers (soprano and tenor) – both of whom are household names at important opera houses around the world such as the Metropolitan Opera House (New York), ROH Covent Garden (London), Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna), Deutsche Staatsoper (Berlin), Gran Teatre del Liceu (Barcelona), Mariinsky Theatre (St. Petersburg), and Teatro alla Scala (Milan). These are soprano Norma Fantini and tenor Luciano Ganci. Norma Fantini – Soprano

Norma Fantini has established an extraordinary international career, performing regularly at the world’s most important opera houses including the Teatro alla Scala (Milan), ROH Covent Garden (London), Metropolitan Opera House (New York), San Francisco Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Opernhaus (Zurich), Staatsoper (Berlin), Teatro Real (Madrid), Teatro dell’Opera (Roma), Teatro Regio (Turin), Arena di Verona, Sferisterio di Macerata, and Teatro San Carlo (Naples).

She worked with distinguished conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Daniele Gatti, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano, and Nello Santi. As regards stage directors, Fantini worked with world-renowned stage directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, Hugo de Ana, Luca Ronconi, Graham Vick, and Bob Wilson,.

During the 2012/13 season she performed in a new production of La forza del destino at Liceu (Barcellona); Tosca at New National Theatre (Tokyo), Wiener Staatsoper, Hamburg Staatsoper and at the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago; a new production of Manon Lescaut at Hamburg Staatsoper, staged by Stefan Herheim; a new production of Manon Lescaut at Dresden Semperoper under the baton of Christian Thielemann; as well as Andrea Chénier in Bregenz, staged by Keith Warner.

She opened the 2013/14 season performing as Amelia in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Staatsoper (Berlin), followed by Tosca during a Japan tour with Teatro Regio (Turin) and in Las Palmas, and Manon Lescaut at the Teatro Verdi (Salerno).

Luciano Ganci – Tenor

In a recent article that appeared in the Italian publication Panorama (August 2013), under the heading Visione Lirica – I giovani talenti del do di petto, the renowned musicologist and journalist Lorenzo Arruga analyses the future of opera singers and includes the young tenor Luciano Ganci, who has an attractive timbre and great vocal possibilities, among the leading new generation of Italian tenors.

Luciano Ganci’s keen interest in music started at the age of nine when he joined the Pueri Cantores Choir of the Cappella Sistina. Later he continued to further his music studies in pianoforte and organ as well as in singing. He was soon attracted to the world of opera and in 2001 he took the role of Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro during the International Festival “Severino Gazzelloni” at the Teatro Argentina, Rome, appearing alongside Renato Bruson.

As a result of his success in these performances Ganci took opera singing as his profession and continued to further his vocal studies under the guidance of world-renowned soprano Mirella Freni at the Centro Universale del Bel Canto, Vignola and later with Otello Felici.

His engagements abroad have also taken him to Athens (Madama Butterfly); New Delhi, India (Cavalleria Rusticana – alongside Francesca Patanè) and Kazakhstan (Attila under the direction of Valery Gergiev – a production he repeated at the Marijnsky Theatre, St. Petersburg). In Beijing he was invited by the National Centre for the Performing Arts to sing the role of Ismaele in Nabucco (March 2013) and subsequently Manrico in Il Trovatore (May 2014). His performance in Beijing was met with critical acclaim… “this tenor can act and sing…he has a beautiful voice with a clear ringing sound…”

Joseph Debrincat – Conductor & Artistic Director

Born in 1976, in Gozo, Joseph Debrincat graduated in music from the University of Malta in 1998, having studied with Malta’s leading composers Charles Camilleri, Joseph Vella, and John Galea. Besides, he pursued studies in conducting with Maltese conductor Michael Laus and furthered them abroad by attending master classes in Milan with Herbert Handt. In 2005, Debrincat has been awarded the M.Phil degree from the University of Malta, after submitting a dissertation focusing on Francesco Azopardi’s unique compositions found in Archives in Gozo.

As a clarinetist, Debrincat holds a diploma from the London College of Music, and is the leader of the Leone Band of Victoria. He is also a founding member of the Victoria Clarinet Quartet. However, he devotes most of his time to conducting. At present, he is the assistant conductor of the Leone Band and, since 2000, the maestro di cappella of the Sannat Parish Church of St. Margaret. Debrincat also served as the first musical director of the Santa Margerita Band of Sannat, from its inception in 1997 until 2013.

Debrincat holds keen interest in opera. He sits on the opera administrative committee at the Aurora Opera House (as part of the Leone Philharmonic Society) and serves as the backstage music co-ordinator and backstage conductor at the same opera house.

In 2001 Debrincat was the mastermind behind the birth of the Classique Foundation, the first of its sort in Gozo, which was inaugurated with a highly acclaimed vocal and orchestral concert, Verdi in concerto. This was followed by many others, most of them with the participation of the National Orchestra of Malta (now MPO). In fact, Debrincat turns out to be the youngest Gozitan conductor ever to conduct the National Orchestra of Malta.

The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (leader: Marcelline Agius) will be under the baton of the music/artistic director and mentor of the Foundation, Joseph Debrincat who is an established name in the local musical circles, particularly in the field of opera.

Founded in 2000, the Classique Foundation is a non-profit cultural organisation that aims to promote music culture in the Maltese Islands by organising regular concerts.

In previous years the Foundation was mastermind behind the successful organisation of concerts such as: Celebrity Concert (2000), Verdi in concert (2001), Le Villi (2002), Celebrity Concert 2003 (2003), Puccini 150 – Anniversary Concert (2008) and Grand Operatic Concert (2011).

Grand Operatic Concert 2014 will be held on Saturday, the 8th of November, 2014 at 7.30pm, at the Aurora Opera House, Victoria, Gozo and will be under the distinguished patronage of H.E. Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta.

The Foundation is funded, completely and solely by local institutions who contribute in no small measure towards the realisation of its programme of events.

The Foundation has also provided a considerable number of free tickets to students attending schools in Gozo and Malta.

Tickets for Grand Operatic Concert 2014 are priced €15 and €10 only and reservations can be made at the Aurora Box Office (Tel: 2155 9452) email: grandoc2014@gmail.com mob: 7953 8846 / 7955 1871 online booking: http://www.teatruaurora.com/.

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