Songs by Tosti and operatic extracts from La Boheme and Tosca are explored by tenor Raffaele Abete and soprano Gillian Zammit accompanied by Lucia Micallef, with Salonniere Denise Mulholland. Dreams, hopes, desires, love – they shape our lives, they compel us to continue living. Even when faced with our own mortality and the inevitability of death, we live with ferocity and passion. And I have never loved life so much. So much life’

Over the course of three weekends, the concert hall at Palazzo de la Salle will be transformed into a fin-de-siecle salon. Traditionally an environment which sought to either please or educate, the Salon was the heart of experimentation, debate, creativity and discovery. Each event will be hosted by a Salonniere and will incorporate not only exquisite music and performance, but poetry, letters, musings and reflections. In keeping with the theme of ‘Decadence, Now’ the Salons will showcase some of the most beautiful repertoire in the German, French and Italian canons. Each programme will explore different aspects of decadence – the passions, the ecstasies, the risks and the consequences. Using these works as inspiration, Karl Fiorini will premiere a new song cycle: his reactionary response to the songs written during the Bel Epoque. With text from Salome and poems by D’Annunzio and Baudelaire, the songs will act as a connective thread running through each of the performances.

Performers Andre Morsch, Charlene Farrugia, Gillian Zammit, Raffaele Abete, Lucia Micallef, Denise Mulholland and Maria Theuma will come together to create an experience which goes beyond the realms of a traditional recital.