Every year the Festa Committee in San Lawrenz, Gozo confers the presigious honour ‘Il-Palma tad-deheb,’ to a young Gozitan who has distinguished himself or herself in the field of music at the national level within Malta.
The committee’s aim in awarding such a prestigious honor is to recognise the important efforts being made by talented young Gozitans despite the limitations of living on an island.
This year, this distinction was given to soprano Claudia Tabone.
Claudia started her music education in her native Gozo at an early age and took up voice studies in Malta with mezzo-soprano Claire Massa. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Malta, she moved to Milan, Italy, to broaden her studies at the prestigious Conservatorio di Musica “Giuseppe Verdi” with Giovanna Canetti and is now under the direction of Juliette Bisazza. She also attended master classes in Malta and Italy with important artists and coaches such as Carlo Ventura, Daniel Lichti, Thomas Bauer and Patrizia Morandini.
Claudia appears regularly in performance and has often been cast opposite artists of international repute, always attaining a good success with public and critics alike. Her stage and concert engagements have included Puccini’s La Bohème (Musetta), Bizet’s Carmen (Frasquita), Verdi’s Aïda (Sacerdotessa), Britten’s The Little Sweep (Rowan), Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas (Spirit/Woman), Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Brahms’ Liebeslieder-Walzer, Henze’s Moralities, and a number of acclaimed Lieder and art song recitals in important venues in Malta.
She was selected as soprano soloist for another performance of Brahms’ Liebeslieder-Walzer, this time at the notable Sala Verdi in Milan. Claudia Tabone will be performing the role of Donna Eleonora in Salieri’s opera Prima la musica e poi le parole this September.