Contraltista Roberto Colavalle will initiate this evening’s concert with a series of delectable Baroque arias by Alessandro Scarlatti, Caldara, Fasolo, Cesti and Sartorio. Roberto’s supremely elegant and wonderful voice is the excellent medium for such works. The Baroque aura will be further enhanced by singing this arias to the accompaniment of a harpsichord by Maria Frendo.

The Laudate Pueri Choir, resident choir at St George’s Basilica, will then continue the concert with a recital of works by Palestrina (3 motets from his Canticum Canticorum), Bartolucci and Perosi. Two works by Joseph Vella will also be performed, namely, his 3-part motet for female chorus Sicut cervus and the world premiere of his Sequenza a 3 which will be sung by Maria Frendo, Antoinette Camilleri and Roberto Colavalle.

Roberto Colavalle started his singing career at the young age of 9 when he was admitted as a boy soprano in the legendary Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina under the direction of the famous Domenico Bartolucci. Winner of numerous awards he continued his career at the Cappella Sistina as tenor/altus. It was at this time that Roberto started taking an interest in composition, under the inspiration of Domenico Bartolucci. In 1993 he joined the Choir of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome. Roberto is also very busy in the world of serious entertainment, collaborating with the Teatro Sistina, ROme, and with leading actors Raoul Bova and Giovanni Martorana.

Laudate Pueri Choir is the resident choir at St George’s Basilica. It was formally set up in 1976 at St George’s Basilica on the initiative of Mgr Joseph Farrugia, then seminarian, later Archpriest of the Basilica. The main objective of the Choir has been the cultivation and promotion of sacred music within the liturgical context, with particular emphasis on polyphonic music of both the Classic and the Contemporary idiom. The Choir has garnered for itself an extraordinary reputation not only in Malta but also abroad, and is the main choral group on the islands that also sings as an all-female choir (SSAA). A leading exponent of Renaissance and contemporary a cappella style, the Laudate Pueri Choir has given numerous concerts in the genre both in Malta and abroad, most notably at St Peter’s Basilica and San Andrea della Valle, Rome, Westminster Cathedral and Brompton Oratory, London, Sacre Coeur, Paris, and St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, amongst others. Earlier this year, the choir was bestowed the signal honour of singing as a massed choir with the legendary Cappella Musicale Pontificia Sistina during Epiphany Mass presided by H.H. Pope Francis at St Peter’s Basilica, Rome. The Choir is under the direction of Rev. George J. Frendo.

The Concert will be under the distinguished patronage of the Nunctio Apostolico. It will be held at St George’s Basilica and starts at 8pm.