| The highly competitive Guido d'Arezzo,
which took place in the church of Santa Maria della Treve, was the 53rd
edition of international choir festival held annually in Italy.
After having been shortlisted out
of about 70 applicant choirs from all over the world, the Cantores Sancti
Juliani were then classified into the 'Children's Choir Category' along
with another four choirs from Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and Taiwan.
The Cantores Sancti Juliani gave
an impeccable performance - undaunted by the fact that their average age
was lower than that of the other competing choirs.
The eleven-man jury from Italy, Great
Britain, France, Greece, Switzerland, Norway, Estonia and Germany voted
Lithuania as the winner, with 80 per cent of the marks.
The Cantores Sancti Juliani also
participated in a grand concert of sacred works along with choirs from
Israel, Germany and Norway. During this concert the choir exclusively rendered
Maltese compositions of sacred music by Benigno Zerafa, Paolo Nani, Carlo
Diacono, Rev. John Galea and Joseph Fenech.
The choir was directed by Lino Attard,
accompanied by Dr Hugo Agius Muscat at the organ and assisted by the choir's
foundress, Elvia Agius. The choir's spiritual director, Fr Tony Agius,
also accompanied the group during its stay at Arezzo.
On returning to Malta, the Cantores
Sancti Juliani gave a joint concert with the ensemble Vocal de la Sainte
Chapelle de Paris who were on tour in Malta. The concert, which was held
at St Paul's Cathedral, Mdina on Thursday at 7.30pm, was under the patronage
Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Borg. |
