Meet the protagonists

EXODUS | IL-MIXJA - 9 APRIL 2022

Colin Attard

Colin Attard, “is a familiar figure on the local music scene. His energy is as boundless and dynamic as his hair, and I know few local musicians who are as energetic as he is” (Albert Storace, The Sunday Times of Malta, 03/03/2014).

Born in 1962 in a highly musical family from Victoria, Gozo, inevitably, Attard grew up in a rather musical environment. He advanced musical studies under the tuition of his late uncle, Prof. Joseph Vella. Indeed, his artistic development and creative impulse were very much moulded within the parameters of his native Gozo – with a necessary corollary being versatility and pragmatism. In turn, he has been a key player in the development and promotion of Gozitan culture, crucially contributing to the revitalisation of its concert activity ever since becoming musically very active in the early 1980’s.

In 1990 he officially founded the Gaulitanus Choir, Gozo’s first unaffiliated choir. Contemporarily, he also first became associated with the Teatru tal-Opra Aurora and its parent organisation, the Leone Philharmonic Society, being appointed resident conductor in 1991. Aware of the constant need to keep up with change, he has been at the front in drifting away from the ubiquitous, tried-and-tested music, thus presenting contemporary, challenging and rather ‘unfamiliar’ classics as well as more trendy, popular music.

Yet, Attard is perhaps more widely known as a pivotal personality in Gozitan operatic productions in which he is not just the man behind the baton but also extensively involved in their organisation, besides doubling as choir master. Colin Attard remains a very proud Gozitan in heart, giving his all to further develop Gozo’s high-quality cultural programme and to enhance Gozo’s image as “an island of culture”.

Tonight, we premiere two funerary marches composed by Attard himself; Lux Aeterna, in memory of former Archdeacon and Vicar General for the Gozo Diocese, Mgr John B. Gauci, and Fi Ħdan il-Feddej (in the arms of the Saviour), in memory of former Leone President and poet John Cremona. An anthology of funerary marches by Colin Attard was recorded by the Leone Band in 2019 and issued under the name: Tgħanniqa (An Embrace).

The Leone Band

What is nowadays known as the Leone Philharmonic Society with its multiple branches and sections is the evolution of The Leone Band A.D.1863 (Banda Ċittadina Leone). It is the direct descendant of the first two known bands in 1863 which then merged to form the Leone Band, hence Gozo’s oldest civic band in existence. Under the current musical direction of Colin Attard, it comprises of more than 60 resident voluntary musicians.

The Leone Band performs band marches and musical concerts, the main ones being the November Annual Concert at the Aurora Theatre, the Sacred Music Programme for Holy Week at the Gozo Cathedral, the August open-air festive concert, the Leone Goes Pop series, and the Grand Christmas Concert in December. The Leone Band also participates in the major village feasts and accompanies the processions of Our Lady of Divine Graces and St Lucy. The most important services are held annually during the mid-August festivities in honour of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven; external festivities for which the Leone Society itself is exclusively responsible.

Throughout its 160 years of existence, the Leone Band always strived to instil the love for music in the Gozitan population giving free music tuition to children and adults, touring abroad and bringing music closer to the public in Malta and Gozo.

Aurora Youth Choir

Established as a branch of the Leone Philharmonic Society, the Aurora Youth Choir is the junior chorus of the Aurora Opera House. It currently comprises a group of twenty young female singers who come together to enjoy the art of singing and theatre.

Under the musical direction of Matthew Sultana, the junior chorus offers the young singers the opportunity to learn music, nurture love for the theatre and participate in a wide variety of events. At a tender age, children are exposed and given the opportunity to participate in large-scale operas as part of a bigger troupe. But equally important to the choir’s mission are several smaller projects and mini-concerts in which the young singers are tasked not only with singing but with the overall responsibility of production, giving them unique hands-on opportunities in various theatre departments.

Apart from its own mini-concerts, the Aurora Youth Choir is therefore a regular at concerts produced by the Leone Band and other events of civic and cultural nature organised in several towns across Gozo. Being part of the Leone Philharmonic Society, the choir enjoys an intrinsic affinity with the Gozo Cathedral Church where it regularly performs not only in pastoral activities for children but also more mainstream liturgical functions.

Joseph W. Psaila

A man of many talents, Joseph W. Psaila is a prolific author, a conscientious Catholic thinker and a generous volunteer activist in several philanthropic and cultural institutions in his hometown Victoria, and Gozo.

Psaila’s activity abounds not only from his fluent and influential pen but also from his amiable persona that becomes richer by giving itself to others. Hence, one meets Psaila not only as a published author worth his salt but also as a scriptwriter for drama and theatre work, editor of local magazines and publications, committee member and advisor of several non-governmental organisations and an active member in community groups.

Psaila’s pen tends towards the philosophical and the sociological. It has a way of analysing and framing how people think and behave in a simple manner that anyone can understood and in a respectful manner that no one can find fault with.