InClassica Malta International Music Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Star-Studded Line-Up

InClassica Malta International Music Festival is offering music lovers a star-studded line-up for its 10th year anniversary

InClassica Malta International Music Festival will be happening on 17 April – 11 May 2021 and will welcome 33 Soloists including Martha Argerich, Rudolf Buchbinder, Gautier Capu?on, Danielle De Niese, Daniel Hope, Gidon Kremer, Denis Matsuev, Andreas Ottensammer, Grigory Sokolov and Maxim Vengerov among others.

8 Orchestras including Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and others directed by Gergely Madaras, Alexander Shelley, Dmitry Yablonsky, Sergey Smbatyan and other leading conductors.

Alexey Shor is the Festival’s Composer-in-Residence.

InClassica Malta International Music Festival has established itself as one of the world’s leading music festivals, and for its 10th year anniversary edition is offering music lovers a star-studded line-up in Malta’s historic capital Valletta.

Soloists scheduled to appear in the festival represent some of the biggest names in classical music, including:

? Triple Grammy Award winner, pianist Martha Argerich;
? ECHO Klassik Award winner, Gold Medal of Salzburg and Vienna recipient, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder;
? Legendary pianist Grigory Sokolov;
? Emmy and ECHO Klassik Award, Orphee d’or winner soprano Danielle de Niese;
? 7 times ECHO Klassik Award winner violinist Daniel Hope;
? Leonard Bernstein Award winner, WEMAG-Soloist prizewinner, holder of the ‘Beethoven Ring’ pianist Kit Armstrong;
? Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, violinist Roman Simovic;
? Grammy Award, twice Gramophone Classical Music Award, Classic Brit Award and 5 times Edison Classical Music Award winner Maxim Vengerov;
? Winner of the prestigious Classical BRIT Award pianist Frederic Kempf;
? Clarinet soloist at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Andreas Ottensamer;
? Winner of the Tchaikovsky International Competition, famous pianist Denis Matsuev;
? Grammy Award and International Tchaikovsky Competition winner, violinist Gidon Kremer;
? Gramophone’s Instrumental Album of the Year winner, Critics’ Choice at the Classic BRITS awards and CBE recipient, cellist Steven Isserlis;
? Co-leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, violinist Carmine Lauri;
? Youngest Deutsche Grammophon artist, violinist Daniel Lozakovich;
? Award-nominated Hyperion recording artist, violist Lawrence Power;
? Double Second Prize winner at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition 2011 and Honorary Ambassador of the Seoul Arts Center, pianist Yeol Eum Son;
? Gold medallist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, pianist Yekwon Sunwoo;
? Gold Medal and Audience Award winner at the XCI International Gina Bachauer Piano Competition 2014, pianist Andrey Gugnin.

As well as the local Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and Malta Youth Orchestra, visiting orchestras will include the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (Israel), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (Belgium), Russian National Orchestra and Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, with renowned conductors Gergely Madaras, Marius Stravinsky, Michael Francis, Alexander Sladkovsky, Alexander Shelley, Dmitry Yablonsky, Gianluca Marciano and Sergey Smbatyan.

The three-weeks-long festival will present concerts in one of Malta’s oldest and most beautiful 16th century buildings, the Mediterranean Conference Centre, and is organised by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the European Foundation for Support of Culture (EUFSC) which promotes cultural and educational projects throughout the continent. Its President, Konstantin Ishkhanov, said:

“After such a difficult year for so many musicians and music-lovers the EUFSC is thrilled to be able to offer three weeks of outstanding music-making from some of the world’s finest musicians. The setting in Malta couldn’t be more beautiful, and visitors are guaranteed a cultural experience that is unique to this enchanting Mediterranean island.”

The 2021 programme celebrates classic works and composers alongside contemporary pieces from the Festival’s Composer-in-Residence, Alexey Shor, who currently holds residencies with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra Academie and Armenian State Symphony Orchestra.

Shor’s works are programmed throughout the Festival including the suite from his “Crystal Palace” ballet which was played at the opening of the 40th anniversary of the Gramophone Awards ceremony, and the world premiere of his new Violin Concerto. This year’s festival will also feature the ‘Classic Piano’ International Competition in Malta, the final stage of the ’14 Ways to Malta’ global piano competition.

This large-scale competition brings 70 students from 14 cities from around the world (Hamburg, Vienna, Washington, Shaghai, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Rome, Seoul, Zurich, London, Antwerp, Berlin, Moscow, and Yerevan) to Malta for a chance to compete for a total prize fund of €300,000, in what promises to be a highly engaging and virtuosic event.

In addition the festival will also include the Malta Classical Music Academy, a three-week schedule of masterclasses, lectures and concerts featuring appearances by celebrated performers and educators. Students will have opportunity to learn from distinguished visiting professors, perform in Academy concerts and masterclasses and benefit from illuminating talks covering a variety of topics including approaches to performance, theory and repertoire.

More information will be released about both of these initiatives in the coming weeks. Prospective participants should visit the websites for each of these events separately in order to register.

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For more information visit https://www.inclassica.com

Piano competition website: https://classicpiano.eu/test/index.html

Academy website: https://classicalmusicacademy.eu/

EUFSC website: https://eufsc.eu/