The Victoria International Arts Festival 2024 (VIAF 2024), held yearly in honour of Maestro Joseph Vella, kicks off with an inaugural concert to be held on Friday 14th June at St. George`s Basilica, Victoria Gozo, at 8pm.

The event will consist of Mro Vella’s acclaimed ‘Rebbieħa’, a 12 minute orchestra work composed in 1986, besides Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Brahms’s Symphony no. 3.

‘Rebbieħa’ is one of Vella`s most popular orchestral works and includes references to the Maltese anthem. It was amongst others performed by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in the United States and Russia, and was defined by the New York Classical Review as “a dramatic overture with energy, imagination and an individual voice” positioning the composer “somewhere between Ralph Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich”.

Other Vella works will also be performed during the VIAF 2024, as part of the rich one-month long programme held in different venues around Victoria, Gozo. The full programme is available by following this link: https://viaf.org.mt/programme/