My essentials: Giosue’ Agius’s cultural picks

About  

I am a Maltese tenor and opera student with the Opera Nova Project in Malta. This is a project designed to help local opera singers develop their skills. I will be performing the role of the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s opera Rigoletto and the role of Basilio in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with the Mediterranean Opera Studio & Festival.

Book

Since I am a bit of a nerd and an avid book reader, I enjoy reading a lot of literature and philosophical books. Recently however, I have been reading a book called Great Singers On Great Singing by the operatic bass Jerome Hines, where he interviewed various singers on their musical practice. Another book I read was The Fundamentals Of Great Vocal Technique by American tenor Michael Trimble. From this book, I learned how yoga can be used in singing.

Film

One movie that stood out to me was The Great Caruso, where the opera singer Mario Lanza acts out the life of Enrico Caruso. Another movie that stood out to me was Whiplash. While centred around Jazz rather than opera, it captures the physical and emotional torment performers sometimes have to go through.

Internet and TV

When it comes to a television series, I was convinced recently to start watching Stranger Things and I’m quite glad that I did. I also watched a lot of Star Trek, Smallville, any series that pertains to the Arrow verse, Breaking Bad and Dexter. When it comes to the internet, I tend to avoid spending too much time on social media as I believe that doom scrolling is bad for one’s health.

Music

This is a bit complicated as my life is surrounded with art and music. I do enjoy the great tenors of the past and learning from them like Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Jussi Bjorling, Luciano Pavarotti and Franco Corelli. A great singer I’m enjoying listening to at the moment is the great German tenor, Fritz Wunderlich. I enjoy these singers because they belong to both the traditions of Bel Canto and Verismo.

Place 

I love the historic places in Malta such as Mdina and Valletta. Places I enjoy visiting are places where my soul feels at home such as Teatru Manoel or watching opera at the Astra Theatre and the Aurora Theatre in Gozo.  One of my favourite places to visit abroad was when I was a visitor to Teatro alla Scala in Milan. This summer I also had the opportunity to visit Lake Como which was a relaxing and romantic destination.