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Treasures from Malta

Francesca Balzan

Treasures from Malta is a new podcast series produced by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti (FPM). Hosted and presented by Francesca Balzan, art historian and artist with a long connection with FPM, each podcast episode consists of individual interviews. We’re getting away from old artefacts in glass showcases and we’re going into the homes and meeting up with some of Malta’s living treasures. We dig below the surface and find out more about them. These treasures are artists, historians, art collectors, performers and arts practitioners with some Malta connection…they’re all fair game for the pod and we want to share them with you. Images and links relating to each episode are in the episode notes here: https://www.patrimonju.org/fpm-podcasts

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20 episodes
Avg 59 min
English

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S4 · E8
Mar 1, 2023 · 1 hr 2 min
Meet tenor Joseph Calleja
Joseph Calleja is one of the world’s foremost tenors. He has performed in numerous operatic roles, solo performances and concerts to great acclaim and has scooped up several major international awards, since his early operatic debut at 19 years of age at the Astra Theatre in Gozo. He is a recording artist with one of the top recording labels and has been nominated for the Grammy awards. Much sought after, his life is a whirlwind of appearances on the major stages of the world. From the Met in New York to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden he is constantly lauded and his golden voice is compared to history’s greats. He is in fact considered the successor to Pavarotti. Gregarious and outgoing, his social media accounts chart his travels and his performances but also his personal life and his island home of Malta, which remains his base. He is known worldwide as ‘The Maltese tenor’ and his connections with our country include representing Malta as its first ever cultural ambassador as well as philanthropic activities to open the world’s doors to our young musicians.
S4 · E7
Feb 15, 2023 · 1 hr 8 min
Meet artist and art historian Joseph Paul Cassar
Joseph Paul Cassar is an artist and art historian whose studies have taken him from Africa to Australia, and he now resides and lectures in North America. He is a specialist on African and Modern European art and lectures at prestigious institutions and Universities in and around Washington DC. But his heart lies in the modern period of Maltese art, and amongst his many, many published studies he has produced two landmark publications that chart the rise of modernism in the visual arts in Malta. He has curated a number of important exhibitions and is an active artist, who has exhibited widely. In 2019, he was awarded the Gold medal of the Malta Society of Arts.
S4 · E6
Feb 1, 2023 · 54 min
Meet philosopher and poet Michael Zammit
Michael Zammit is a poet and a philosopher who has a tendency to look East. He has mastered the difficult language of Sanskrit, and has studied and written extensively about it. He draws lessons from the great philosophical traditions of the East and finds connections with that of the West, using the East as his starting point. He has translated and adapted into Maltese a number of texts including several for the theatre and continues to lecture on both Western and Eastern philosophy in various institutions including the University of Malta where he is Professor. He has in fact been involved in academia throughout his life. He set up the Philosophy Department at Junior College, co-founded The Malta Classics Association where he also served as president, he is a member of various boards and was instrumental in setting up the Systems of Knowledge course for pre-University students. He was one of the founding members of Philosophy Sharing, that has now become the University Philosophy Department’s outreach taking the philosophical conversation to the general public. His publications are endless and his research is ongoing, including participating in international organisations such as his membership of the Scientific Board of the Elémire Zolla International Research Society.
S4 · E5
Jan 15, 2023 · 59 min
Meet theatre historian Vicki Ann Cremona
Vicki Ann Cremona is a prolific and distinguished academic who originally studied and taught French. In time she was drawn to theatre studies and dance, and has approached them from so many angles through her research and papers ranging from the architecture of theatres, to costume, to carnival. She has written extensively on these subjects and much more besides. She is without doubt the leading authority on the history of carnival in Malta and has produced a seminal book on the subject. She has lectured widely, from Rome to Australia, was a visiting scholar in Cambridge and has participated in seminars convened by major international institutions and academic bodies. She has also served as Ambassador for Malta to Tunisia and France. She is a Professor at the University of Malta and former head of the School for Performing Arts. She has been recognized by the French Government and decorated Chevalier in the Order of Academic Palms.
S4 · E4
Dec 15, 2022 · 59 min
Meet soprano Gillian Zammit
Gillian Zammit is elegance personified. Her petite frame belies the incredibly powerful singing voice that has made her a household name. Her musical repertoire is vast and she is equally comfortable singing Baroque opera as she is with 20th century compositions. She has worked alongside such greats as Placido Domingo and Joseph Calleja and sung to much acclaim in the US and across the major capitals of Europe. She is consistently lauded in reviews and while her musical prowess is at its peak she is also engaged in various projects focusing particularly on musical education, setting up and directing choirs both for professional performances and for community engagement purposes. She sees power in music and song not just to uplift and delight audiences, but also to heal and enhance the performer’s life.
S4 · E3
Dec 1, 2022 · 59 min
Meet author Philip Farrugia Randon
Philip Farrugia Randon is somewhat of a polymath with a multi-faceted career. He graduated as a lawyer in 1973, while simultaneously broadcasting programmes on radio and tv. Throughout his working life as a lawyer, specializing in banking law, he has engaged constantly with the arts. He is a practicing watercolourist as well as an art connoisseur who has penned countless articles and many books about amongst others, Caravaggio and J.M.W. Turner. He is a published poet and author. He has occupied several posts relating to all these areas amongst which are those of chairman of the Public Broadcasting Services and chairman of the National Book Council. His philanthropic activities include involvement with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (as president of the association and as a knight) and, most remarkably, the highly important ‘Puttinu Cares’ charity which started out as a character he created for a children’s book and went on to become a charity which supports patients with serious and terminal illnesses.
S4 · E2
Nov 15, 2022 · 56 min
Meet celebrity photographer Lorenzo Agius
Lorenzo Agius is a celebrity photographer of Maltese descent. His roots are in art and art history but early on in his career he took up photography as his medium, working his way up from photography assistant to a fully-fledged freelance photographer. For decades now he has specialized in portraiture and fashion. Throughout his career, he has produced iconic images of practically all the most celebrated actors and models of our time, sometimes revisiting these sitters through different shoots over the years, and charting their changes like an old friend. His portraits have appeared on numerous posters of blockbuster films and he has also shot fashion campaigns for many of the top houses and international fashion magazines. But deep down he remains an artist, producing incredibly striking images that have been shown and are collected by prestigious international galleries and museums worldwide.
S4 · E1
Nov 1, 2022 · 57 min
Meet artist and academic Vince Briffa
Vince Briffa made the cross-over from industry to the academic field, while maintaining an art practice that has established him as one of the leading lights in the contemporary visual arts in Malta. He has attended numerous prestigious international art residencies. He has been invited to participate in countless exhibitions with important international artists and continues to explore the visual arts in both new media, and traditional media such as sculpture and painting. In 2002 he was instrumental in setting up the first contemporary art collective, named (appropriately) Start, which presented some truly ground breaking exhibitions in Malta. In his own right, he has curated numerous exhibitions of several significant contemporary artists, both established and upcoming. He entered academia after a successful career in advertising and the graphic arts and led the department of Digital Arts at the University of Malta for a number of years where he continues to nurture future talents to this day. His credentials as an artist were sealed by, not once, but twice, being selected to participate in the Venice Art Biennale over the course of two decades confirming his enduring importance as, above all, a cutting edge contemporary artist.
S3 · E8
May 15, 2022 · 1 hr
Meet scenic artist Carmel Said
Scenic artist Carmel Said has had a remarkable career. From art studies in Malta he went on to obtain further art degrees in London where he worked his way up to become one of the finest scenic artists, producing incredible sets that are beautiful works of painting and sculpture for the biggest names in the industry. From Paris to New York, if you spot a beautiful shop window, say at Louis Vuitton or Dior, it is likely to have been produced by Scenic Sets, his busy London workshop which he founded as work increased in the 1980s and now employs family and other professionals to produce remarkable window displays, backdrops and props for films and adverts, for the most recognizable international brands.
S3 · E7
May 1, 2022 · 1 hr 3 min
Meet percussionist and sound artist Renzo Spiteri
Renzo Spiteri is a multi-percussionist, composer and improviser, a multimedia artist, a field recordist, sound designer, and arts collaborator. In essence he is a sound artist who seems to have no restrictions, such is his versatility and the extent of his experimentation. Literally every and any particular sound can be turned into music in his hands. His practice has taken him all over the world collaborating with persons working in all the arts, from the visual to the performative to the written word. He has set up arts organisations, he has directed music festivals, and has been invited to take up prestigious roles such as musician in residence at the Sonic Arts Research Centre. He has also been appointed National Ambassador to the European Union’s “Year for Intercultural Dialogue”. He has performed in major international festivals and venues, is a recording artist and has written music for film, dance companies, museums and art exhibitions.
S3 · E6
Apr 15, 2022 · 58 min
Meet historian Joan Abela
Dr Joan Abela is synonymous with archives. She is a well published historian who achieved distinction throughout her academic journey and now in turn fires up her students with enthusiasm for the past. She has wowed us with her many discoveries, her incredible, infectious passion for the past but most of all her almost militant attitude to combat neglect and defend archives and their collections with extraordinary zeal. Her conviction about preserving at all costs, in the face of a laissez-faire attitude when it comes to paper heritage, has grown and grown. Several have joined her crusade and she now counts on a team of volunteers and professionals who follow a common ideal that she has set. For her commitment to saving archives and preserving collections she has been honoured by the State and her name has become a household name thanks to her constantly finding ways to keep paper heritage in the news.
S3 · E5
Apr 1, 2022 · 53 min
Meet ceramicist Nico Conti
Nico Conti is a ceramic artist who is working clay in exciting, radical new ways. From his undergraduate days at MCAST in Malta to finishing top of his class at the Royal College of Art in 2019, he has continually excelled. In the short space of a few years he has won numerous prestigious awards and scholarships. He is represented by major galleries and has already exhibited in craft fairs where his work was singled out for praise. His name is now synonymous with 3d printing, but his work is rooted in tradition and Malta’s historical legacy, producing incredibly beautiful porcelain vessels that have this timeless, calm quality to them and an elegance that is classical.
S3 · E4
Mar 15, 2022 · 1 hr 1 min
Meet photographer Daniel Cilia
Daniel Cilia is one of Malta’s foremost photographers. His artistry is much admired, going to great lengths not only to record what might soon disappear, but making seemingly impossible photographs that continuously elicit awe and wonder from his ever growing fan base. He is a Gozitan with a deep love for his birth island. Through his photography, and, it must be said, incessant curiosity he has made several discoveries and proposed theories about cultural conundrums. He has also increasingly turned his rightful indignation at the destruction of old buildings into activism, using his great skills in photography and digital art to show up the apologists and would-be destroyers. He has received numerous awards for his photography work both locally and abroad and has exhibited widely. He is also a book designer sometimes combining both his photography and his design skills in the production of a book. He has photographed for and designed a remarkable 136 books, with more in the works!
S3 · E3
Mar 1, 2022 · 57 min
Meet designer Suzanne Sharp
Rug and interiors designer Suzanne Sharp has had a very colourful career! Together with her husband, Christopher, she has risen to become one of the leading exponents in rug design internationally. Her roots are Maltese, and indeed the first shop that set the couple on their incredibly successful design path, was a shop they opened in Sliema. Since then they have never looked back, establishing the Rug Company and growing their business in several areas. From retailing traditional oriental rugs, they made the leap into designing artistic high-end carpets, as well as commissioning big name international artists and designers and expanding into tapestry design and more. Suzanne Sharp has in recent years turned increasingly to interior design, furniture and wallpaper design. She has also returned to her roots, turning a historic building into a unique hotel that is slated to open in 2023 in Attard, Malta.
S3 · E2
Feb 15, 2022 · 1 hr 21 min
Meet maritime archaeologist Timmy Gambin
Timmy Gambin is a maritime archaeologist and an associate professor at the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Malta. His interest is specifically in wrecks that lie deep below Maltese waters - whether they are ancient or date to World War II you can be sure he has either discovered them or knows all there is to know about them. He has directed several underwater surveys not only in Maltese waters but also in Spain, Italy, Croatia and other parts of the Mediterranean but his passion remains the World War II period and he has indulged it by discovering and exploring wrecks of submarines, ships and aircraft from this time period. But perhaps his most exciting project to date is the ongoing excavation of the Phoenician shipwreck off Xlendi, Gozo which is currently considered the oldest shipwreck in the Central Mediterranean and for which, together with his team, he has pioneered new methodologies for excavating a wreck at a depth of over 100 meters, which is likely a world record.
S3 · E1
Feb 1, 2022 · 54 min
Meet food writer Matty Cremona
Matty Cremona is an accomplished cook and food history writer. She has written four books and numerous articles about the history of food and the context of dining in Malta. Her knowledge of Malta’s food history, honed through years of research both in the archives and in her kitchen, has revealed new information and translated these old writings into modern-day doable recipes. The interest in food, what it means and how we prepared and ate it in the past, is universal. But Matty Cremona takes this interest to a new dimension. Her excitement at her subject enthuses all who listen to her. For those of us lucky enough to have actually tasted the food she prepares based on recipes she has discovered in the archives, the experience is exceptional. For those who cannot partake of her dishes, Matty’s books gently guide us on forays into the past while advising us how to recreate these recipes with ingredients easily at hand.
S2 · E8
Dec 15, 2021 · 52 min
Meet Music historian Anna Borg Cardona
Anna Borg Cardona is a musician and music researcher whose eyes fire up with incredible excitement whenever she talks about the discoveries she keeps making in our many rich historic archives here in Malta. Through the decades she has discovered musicians and musical instrument makers from the past, she has uncovered and played long forgotten sheet music, and pieced together much of Malta’s rich ethnographic music history. She has lectured extensively at the University and delivered many public presentations, she has formed a musical ensemble to promote Malta’s musical heritage both locally and in performances overseas, and has published books on Maltese music history that have become landmark studies in the discipline. She has also curated exhibitions on musical instruments the most recent being the major Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti exhibition ‘Music in Malta: From Prehistory to Vinyl’ held in 2019 as well as publishing myriad articles, papers and studies that continue to build on our previously sketchy knowledge of the musical legacy of Malta. An excerpt from the following track can be heard in the podcast: ‘Ghana Melody’ played by the Ġukulari Ensemble, 2005 from the CD – Doqqli Daqqa! Traditional Music of the Maltese Islands. Copyright: Anna Borg Cardona
S2 · E7
Dec 1, 2021 · 59 min
Meet philosopher Joe Friggieri
Prof. Joe Friggieri is a philosopher, a playwright, a theatre director, a poet and an author, not to mention a person who has been an influencer in the arts in Malta from decades before an influencer became ‘a thing’. He has packed all of this into a very industrious lifetime that commenced its academic trajectory with Ph.D.s from both Milan and Oxford, followed by a professorship at the University of Malta. On a parallel with his academic career, he has written and directed numerous plays, has penned several poems and short stories in Maltese, which have been translated into foreign languages, and have won a plethora of literary awards. He has presented and produced many radio and tv programmes with his characteristic lucid and accessible style bringing learned discussions ranging from history to language to philosophy to a wide audience in a most engaging way. For his many contributions to art and culture in Malta he has been honoured by the Maltese state and has been entrusted with a number of key positions related to culture due to his deep commitment to the arts.
S2 · E6
Nov 15, 2021 · 41 min
Meet conductor Wayne Marshall OBE
Wayne Marshall is a conductor, pianist and organist of great international repute. He has performed widely in all of the principal concert halls and opera houses around the world, both as conductor and pianist, and sometimes simultaneously ! He is celebrated for his interpretation of Gershwin and Bernstein and other 20th century composers however his repertoire is actually far greater than that. His achievements have earned him numerous plaudits and earlier this year he was honoured with an OBE (that is an Officer of the British Empire) in Her Majesty The Queen’s New Year’s Honours list. Excerpts from the following music that you will hear throughout the podcast were played and recorded by Wayne Marshall: An Improvisation on The Lonely Goatherd Toccata Latino Improvisee Prelude in A Minor BWV 543 by J S Bach
S2 · E5
Nov 1, 2021 · 58 min
Meet curator Frà John Critien
In this podcast episode, we meet a knight! Frà John Edward Critien is a professed member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and the only Maltese to have ever been elevated to the highest ranks of this International Order. For several years he lived in the Order’s Headquarters at the historic Palazzo Malta in Rome where he was Conservator of the Magistral Palace Library and Archives and Curator of the art collections of the Order. In 2000 he moved to Malta to take up residence at Fort Saint Angelo, where, to this day, he is the only Knight Resident occupying and caring for this incredible site, laden with history, overlooking the Grand Harbour of Malta. He has been received into various orders of chivalry and honoured with the award of several prestigious decorations from various States. He wears all this very lightly, and his warmth and charm, his welcoming nature and a charitable disposition shine through in this conversation.

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