Valletta’s Hastings Gardens transformed into open-air cinema as Barocco Foundation launches season with epic film-music night

Barocco Foundation opens new season with film music concert
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The Barocco Foundation kicked off its 2024 cultural season last Saturday with a dazzling “Cinema under the Stars” concert that turned the historic Hastings Gardens into an open-air movie theatre—minus the popcorn, plus a full chamber orchestra. As the sun set over the Grand Harbour and the city lights of Valletta flickered on, more than 600 Maltese and visiting music lovers sank into rented cushions to hear John Williams, Ennio Morricone and Malta’s own Alexey Shor re-imagined for strings, winds and piano.

The choice of programme—everything from *Schindler’s List* to *Cinema Paradiso*—was no accident. “Film music is the gateway drug to classical,” laughed artistic director and violinist Marcelline Agius, tuning her 18th-century Italian instrument backstage. “We wanted something that feels familiar to people who might never have set foot in Manoel Theatre, yet still gives our regular patrons the virtuosity they crave.”

Local context, global sound
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Malta’s orchestral scene has exploded in the past decade: the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra now streams on Medici.tv, the Valletta International Baroque Festival sells out months in advance, and Gozo’s Victoria Arts Festival packs citadel ramparts. But the Barocco Foundation—set up in 2018 by a group of musicians who met rehearsing in a Birkirkara garage—prides itself on being the “people’s chamber ensemble”. Ticket prices are capped at €15, students pay a fiver, and every concert partners with a community cause. This time it was Puttinu Cares; volunteers collected €1,340 in bucket donations during the interval.

“Access is our mission,” explained foundation chairperson Antoine Pace, greeting guests in fluent Maltese then switching to English for tourists. “We rehearse in parish halls, borrow music stands from band clubs and pay players a fair Maltese wage, not a European pittance.” That grassroots ethos resonates in a country where village band marches still stop traffic on summer evenings and 85 % of 11-year-olds learn an instrument through the School of Music’s free scheme.

A night of cross-generational magic
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The concert opened with a Maltese premiere: Shor’s *Malta Suite*, originally written for the Moscow Virtuosi but arranged for chamber ensemble by local composer Edward Gauci. The lilting *Għanja* movement quoting *Il-Għanja tal-Mosta* drew audible gasps from the crowd, especially when soprano Claire Caruana floated a final high B-flat across the bastions. Children as young as six waved glow-sticks in time; one toddler conducted with a French-fry. Behind me, an elderly man from Sliema wiped his eyes during *Gabriel’s Oboe*. “My wife and I saw *The Mission* on our first date at the old Rialto cinema,” he whispered. “Hearing it here, under the stars—this is what culture should feel like.”

Cultural significance beyond the score
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Film music concerts are trendy worldwide, but in Malta they carry extra weight. The islands’ cinematic credentials—*Gladiator*, *Game of Thrones*, *Napoleon*—mean audiences recognise the emotional shorthand of orchestral themes. “When our trumpeter blasted the *Star Wars* fanfare, you could feel the collective adrenaline,” percussionist Rebecca Bonnici told me. “It’s a shared language that bypasses politics, age, even language itself.”

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo attended with a delegation of cruise-ship executives, keen to showcase Valletta’s potential as a late-summer cultural destination. “Events like this prove Malta isn’t just sea and sun,” he remarked. “We’re a living, breathing stage.”

Community impact that lingers
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The ripple effects are already visible. St Albert the Great College has requested Barocco musicians for a workshop on careers in the creative industries; the Qormi scout troop wants help staging a spooky *Harry Potter* fundraiser next October. Meanwhile, the foundation’s WhatsApp group—usually reserved for rehearsal reminders—has been flooded with videos of viewers humming *Hedwig’s Theme* on the ferry ride home.

As the final chord of *Pirates of the Caribbean* faded and cannons from the Saluting Battery echoed in accidental accompaniment, the crowd erupted. Phones lit up the night like a galaxy of tiny screens, capturing not just a concert but a moment of post-pandemic togetherness. In a country where space is premium and calendars are crammed with festas, the Barocco Foundation has carved out a new tradition: classical music as community picnic, film nostalgia as civic glue.

The season continues on 19 October with a Baroque Halloween at the Jesuit Church, complete with candlelight and costume contest. Bring your own broomstick—and maybe a cushion.