This year’s first edition of the Valletta International Baroque Festival knows no limits and the programme keeps offering audiences the best from the international contemporary baroque musical scene. The final week of this 16-day Festival will see another three highly respected exponents of the Baroque idiom.

On Tuesday 22nd the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra will be back in action on Teatru Manoel’s stage under Mro Michael Laus’ baton, but this time with a very talented international guest: Counter Tenor David Hansen. Described by The New Yorker as “a pure-voiced young Australian who is typical of a new breed of matinée-idol countertenors”, David Hansen made his European début in 2004 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. Concert highlights include Carmina Burana with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and the title-role in Handel’s Solomon with René Jacobs and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

This concert at 19.30hrs will feature works by Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello, G. F. Handel, Leonardo Vinci, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Antonio Vivaldi and Riccardo Broschi.

Combattimento Consort Amsterdam will then go in action with two seperate productions, namely G.P. Telemann’s comic opera Pimpinone inside the Throne Room of the President’s Palace on Wednesday 23rd January, followed by a programme of Bach Cantatas at the Jesuits’ Church on Thursday 24th January, both conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. Both these performances start at 19.30hrs.

Founded in 1982 by violinist Jan Willem de Vriend, the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam has developed into a close-knit ensemble specialising in music between 1600 and 1800. In view of the repertoire, concerts comprising small and medium-sized groups of instruments are given, but each year, the ensemble also programs oratorios and operas. Combattimento's musicians perform on instruments built in the 19th century.

Nine musicians from the Combattimento Consort Amsterdam will also give a Lunchtime Concert at Sala Isouard on Tuesday 22nd at 12.15hrs. This is free of charge

The final performance on Friday 25th January will be at Teatru Manoel where Christophe Rousset and his Les Talens Lyriques will stage George Friedrich Handel’s opéra-ballet Terpsichore with the participation of ballet company Les Fêtes Galantes choreographed by Béatrice Massin. Terpsichore pays tribute to the muse of the dance which until the end of the 18th century remained unchallenged and extremely popular in the French scene especially during the reign of Louis XIII. The vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Talens Lyriques was founded in 1991 by Christophe Rousset with the intention of promoting and reviving a passionate interest in the 18th century music repertoire amongst the public.

Bookings through Teatru Manoel’s booking office on 21246389 or via email on bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt