Programme

T. Albinoni (1671 – 1751)              Sonata in A minor op 6 no. 6                                                               

N. Paganini (1782 – 1840)             Sonata in E Minor for Violin and Guitar op. 3 no. 6

A. Ourkouzounov (b. 1970)           Sonata Bulgarica

E. Granados (1867 – 1916)            Danse Espagnole no. 3 (‘Fandango’)

A. Piazzolla (1921 – 1992)            Histoire du Tango

Duo Hafdar was created in 2018, as Maltese violinist Samuel Cutajar and German/Australian guitarist Kolja Gibbs received their Bachelor of Music from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Greenwich, London. This ensemble’s name itself is an anagram combining the German word ‘Hafen’ (harbour) and the Maltese word for Green ‘Aħdar’, paying tribute to their origins. The four years of study together were marked by performances of the music of Astor Piazzolla, Niccolò Paganini, Mauro Giuliani, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Maurice Ravel and many more, and has been performed in several cities in England and in world-class venues such as the Handel Hendrix House, The Old Royal Naval Chapel and the Manoel Theatre. When Samuel and Kolja perform together they transmit happiness and a deep love of music making.

Samuel Cutajar has a master’s degree from the Royal Academy of Music under the tuition of Prof. Phillipe Honoré. Following his graduation, he became a permanent member of the EUYO for four consecutive years, as well as performing with Sinfonia Cymru and the Royal Ballet Sinfonia since 2022. He also performed part-time with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra. Thanks to these orchestras, he was able to work with artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Antonio Pappano, Vasiliy Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, Pekka Kuusisto, Ivan Fisher, and many more. As a soloist he has performed works by Paganini and Tartini with the Uzbekistan National Symphony Orchestra and the Kyiv Virtuosi. He also won the nationwide Maltese ‘Brillanti’ Competition in 2022 accompanied by Kolja on guitar, as well as the Vera Kantrovich Bach Competition in 2020. Samuel is fortunate to perform on an original 1800 instrument by Giovanni Gagliano.

Kolja Gibbs has a master’s degree from the Maastricht Conservatory, having been a student in the prestigious class of Prof. Carlo Marchione. He has performed as a soloist as well as in chamber music formations. His studies in Maastricht were accompanied by a growing affection for the romantic guitar, the predecessor of the modern classical guitar, and since then he has been performing the works on this historical instrument by composers of the time, such as Giuliani, Matiegka, Paganini and Molitor. In May 2024, he won second place at the International Paganini Competition, Parma, Italy.