On Wednesday 29th June, the legendary American violinist Gil Shaham, multiple-time Grammy Award-winner, and recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque, Diapason d’Or and Avery Fisher Prize among others, will take to the stage of the Grand Master’s Suite at the Hilton hotel in St Julian’s along with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and their Principal Conductor Sergey Smbatyan. The concert, which will feature works by Alexey Shor, Pablo de Sarasate and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, is being organised by the European Foundation for Support of Culture and the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, and shall kick off with a performance of Shor’s Violin Concerto in B Minor. Composed across three movements, the contemporary work is replete with energetic movement, rich harmonies and the bold melodic writing that Shor is known for, and received its world premiere in 2021 to great critical acclaim. Sarasate’s beloved Carmen Fantasy follows next, a violin fantasy in five movements on themes from Georges Bizet’s famous opera Carmen. Full of intricate technical phrases, and fiery, energetic passages, the work is widely considered to be one of the most challenging and technically demanding pieces in the violin repertoire, and provides a perfect vehicle for Shaham to showcase the inimitable style that has turned him into a household name across the entirety of the music world. The MPO concludethe evening with their interpretation of another immensely popular work – Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. Although not an immediate success upon its premiere in March 1870, the work has gone on to transcend the realm of classical music, with its passionate ‘love theme’, in particular, featuring in a host of different media throughout the series, including various television series, movies and even video games.