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A trumpeter by profession, Sigmund Mifsud will tonight conduct the national orchestra and a host of guest singers and musicians for the National Orchestra Goes Pop concert at the Old Opera House site in Valletta. Gilbert Calleja speaks to this young maestro.
A classically trained musician, Mifsud has throughout the years been able to gain valuable musical know-how by getting on board various projects involving orchestras, brass bands and a multitude of other performances.
“I’ve been working as a full time musician with the National Orchestra for the past 8 years,” he says, “but apart from my full-time job I am constantly involved with other projects, mostly local productions of musicals or theatrical performances.”
When asked about the many influences on his musical career Mifsud speaks about his years as a member of the Johann Strauss Big Band. “With this ‘band’ I had the opportunity to play at the Malta Jazz Festival - side by side with world renowned musicians. This not only proved to be an invaluable learning experience but it was also an excellent opportunity for all of us musicians to exchange ideas and experiences with international professional musicians.”
“I also play with the ‘Versatile Brass Ensemble’... a group of musicians including myself had come together to play at the Expo 2000 and since then we had numerous occasions to play on local as well as foreign stages,” he says adding, “… so my other activities ‘outside’ my normal routine as a classical musician with the national orchestra brought me in contact with different, more popular, music genres such as soundtracks, musicals and other lighter styles. These experiences proved to be interesting sources of inspiration and I am currently exploring the many possibilities which lie within ‘range’ particularly the fusion between classical and pop music.”
Mifsud has also explored various styles including jazz and studied musical arrangements with Maestro Anthony Chircop and harmony with Maestro Carmelo Pace. Now, he is “under the guidance” of Maestro Paul Borg. Always keen to learn and explore new musical territories Mifsud has for the past 5 years also been involved with the organising team for an annual fund-raising concert by the ‘Banda Zghazagh Sliema’ (Sliema Youths Band).
“This concert is organised to help missionary projects in Kenya … during this project, for two consecutive years I had brought together an orchestra and a ‘wind band’. This bringing together of brass wood-wind string orchestra plus rhythm section was very successful and as a matter of fact we were then asked to perform at the Mediterranean Conference Centre during the celebrations for Malta’s entry in the EU.”
“This was the ‘first’ concert which eventually led to my proposal and lobbying for the ‘National Orchestra Goes Pop’ concert which is now in its third edition,” he says.
Visibly pleased with the success achieved so far Mifsud recalls the first such concert back in November 2004, his role as producer and the sequence of events that followed.
He says that the more experienced Maestro Paul Abela took care of the musical arrangements and direction for the first concert.
“That was two years ago and seeing the success it enjoyed it was continued … I was musical director for last October’s second edition… working with people like Winter Moods, Ira Losco and Gianni Zammit proved to be an interesting particularly because of the palette of voices and characters.”
After the November 2005 concert, the Malta Council for Culture and the Arts (MCCA) asked to include the ‘National Orchestra Goes Pop’ concert in its Malta Arts Festival – Summer 2006.
“How right am I in saying that the idea for the ‘National Orchestra Goes Pop’ followed from the Sliema Youths Band fund-raising concert?
“The Sliema concerts served as the experimental grounds for the current production but the idea had developed from other sources particularly my involvement with musicals and theatre.”
“What distinguishes the two events? What difference does it make for a musical director to be working with professional musicians and singers?”
“The obvious difference between the two concerts is that professionals are paid to be there when you ask them and they are paid to deliver what you ask of them. Sometimes amateur musicians are as good as professionals but a bit more difficult to organise and communicate with.”
“This is the second edition of ‘National Orchestra goes Pop’. Will this edition be any different and, if so, how?”
“The concept is pretty much the same. Maybe this time we tried harder to fuse pop and classical music, as opposed to just ‘go pop’. We’re using soundtracks, among which there are the themes to ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Gladiator’, which I think provide a fitting fusion between the two genres.”
Mifsud also explains how he and Maestro Paul Abela got their wits together and amalgamated Beethoven’s Fifth symphony with the ‘Celebration’ theme. As director of the concert Mifsud also commissioned a new piece by the young composer Alexander Vella Gregory, which has a very classical feel.”
The national orchestra will be playing alongside Chiara, Ivan Grech, Kris Spiteri, Pia Zammit and Tara. People recognise the five singers as representative of different styles. Did you meet them as a group or individually?”
“Well, I always chose the singers according to the pre-established set-list, so I chose them accordingly. This time around I couldn’t opt for an entire band as most bands will be busy during this period… I chose these soloists because I knew that they would bring variety to it… with Ivan, I just liked the idea of him covering a great rock band like U2. Chiara, obviously, is famous for her ballads, and she’ll be doing songs by Christina Aguilera. I met Pia Zammit while she was doing ‘Chicago’, and a lot of people (including herself!) would say ‘she’s not a singer’ but I thought she’d be ideal for the swing numbers I had in mind… from all the musicals I’d seen her in. Tara spent three years studying theatre and music abroad and she wanted to experiment with different styles. I liked that idea because she won’t have a fixed set like the others but is filling in between other numbers. We also have Daniel Cauchi, an excellent percussionist who’ll be performing a number from Michael Buble’s repertoire.”
“Would you say that a band would have a more direct relationship with the audience, as opposed to an orchestra, especially in an open-air venue?”
“I strongly believe that it is the orchestra which has to capture the audience and set the mood right from the very first number till the last… the opening and closing numbers should be as punchy as possible.”
“You’ll be performing at the old Opera House. How do you feel about performing in the open-air?”
“I love it as a venue. There have obviously been problems regarding acoustics and the setting up of the place – but you’ll always have a problem, that goes without saying, even indoors, and thanks to our team we have managed to solve most of them… much work has also been put into re-designing the site for this occasion and I think Adrian Mamo came up with some interesting ideas.”
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