The January 11th 2011 edition of The Maltese Herald

by Gozo News · January 11, 2011

This weeks 11th January 2011 edition of The Maltese Herald Gozo section is now available for download by clicking here

Previous editions are also available by clicking on this link.

The stories covered in this weeks issue are:

1. The Bishop’s Conservatory Secondary School proudly presented its fourth Christmas show on the 14th of December 2010, entitled Dear Santa, spectacularly performed by all the 211 girls at the school under the direction of the dedicated staff. Indeed, the show has helped strengthen the sense of community within the school and helped develop and encourage the many talents the students within the school are endowed with.

Dear Santa tackled the issue of how materialistic and greedy our lives have become especially during Christmas time, when our focus is generally on what we wish for rather than on what Christmas truly stands for. The humour, song and dance throughout the show clearly put forth the Christian message that Christmas should be about giving rather than receiving. In fact during the show, money was collected to go towards a good cause in Africa. The audience could not help but appreciate the efforts made and left the theatre feeling the true Spirit of Christmas!

2. The feast of the Epiphany was celebrated with pageant in Ghajnsielem. The Three Kings departed from Mellieha to Bethlehem f’Ghajnsielem on horseback and then made a triumphal entry into the Nativity village where hundreds of people waited for their arrival.

3. Chorus Urbanus presented the 13th edition of its annual Yuletide Concert at St. George’s Basilica. This year’s edition was marking the choir’s 35th anniversary from its establishment as the resident choir at St. George’s Basilica. It was therefore fitting for the concert to be held in this basilica. Mgr George Bezzina, one of the original members of the choir and presently the spiritual director of the choir gave an introductory speech outlining the major highlights that dot the choir’s history throughout these last 35 years. For this concert, the choir was accompanied by the Urbanus Festive Orchestra specifically assembled for this occasion.

The first part of the concert was dedicated wholly to music by Mozart. The choir performed Alma Dei Creatoris, Laudate Dominus, Ave Verum and the Gloria from The Coronation Mass with the participation of soloists Yvonne Galea (sop), Hilda Grima (alto), Mary Xerri (alto), Mario Portelli (ten) amd Noel Galea (sop). Joe M Attard recited one of his poems written for the occasion while a collection in aid of Arka Foundation was held. A special audio-visual feature about the history of Chorus Urbanus prepared by CVC Productions was also shown.

The second part of the concert was dedicated to traditional Christmas carols. The Junior section of the choir joined the choir to perform the traditional Maltese carol Ninni La Tibkix Izjed. Then the Junior section performed Ejjew La Ddumux, Walking in the Air (solo: Angelica Portelli) and Jien Tifel Fqajjar (solo: Stefan Scerri). Chorus Urbanus then accompanied Mario Portelli (ten) and Noel Galea (bass) in interpreting O Little Town of Bethlehem and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

For this year’s concert the choir performed a very interesting and rather unusual adaptation of the ever-green carol Little Drummer Boy. In his adaptation of this carol, Dr John Galea intertwines Gregorian chant by the male section with the female soloists, Hilda Grima (alto) and Ruth Portelli (sop) and the rest of the female sections. The carol opens on a minor tone and gradually evolves into and ends on a more familiar major tone. The official programme ended with two very popular carols, Adeste Fidelis (solo: Noel Galea) and The Ukranian Bell Carol.

As an encore, Chorus Urbanus performed Hallelujah from Handel’s The Messiah which as the tradition holds, is always performed to a standing audience.

The artistic direction of the concert was entrusted to artist Austin Camilleri, whose simple but very effective lighting setting offered a different dimension to this concert.