The devastating effect that the Covid-19 pandemic has played on the universal cultural scenario is well known. Chorus Urbanus was not spared either, with the most evident effect being the cancellation of the 2020 envisaged live events of “Feel the Magic” series. Moreover all other activities and rehearsals by the choir were cancelled as well, in view of the preventive measures that have been introduced to combat the spread of the virus since March 2020.
This new reality brought about a re-thinking of the way things are to be done and we did come up with new and innovative ways of doing things to maintain a raison d’etre and resilience during this pandemic.
The social distancing concept that became fundamental to mitigate the spread of the virus brought to the front a new way of performing behind closed doors. We have flagged our resilient spirit by resorting to filming the 23rd edition the hitherto uninterrupted series of ‘Il-Kuncert tal-Milied’. The organisers resorted to engage a reduced orchestra while both the Urbanus Juniors and Chorus Urbanus under the direction of Dr John Galea performed with surgical masks on. This concert was recorded at Saint George’s Basilica on Thursday 17 December by CVC Media (directed by Alvin Scicluna) and was televised on TVM, the national broadcaster, on Christmas Eve at 22.10 hours with a repeat on Christmas Day at 10. 30hrs. On this particular day, the choir was officially launched at Saint George’s Basilica forty-five years ago.
The viewership of this yuletide concert at such prime time proves the high esteem which Chorus Urbanus retains as one of the main national cultural protagonists. Chorus Urbanus Productions gives thanks to the generous sponsorship by Arts Council Malta – Gozo Cultural Support Programme (Ministry for Gozo), Victoria Local Council, Michael Grech Financial Services, the La Stella Philharmonic Society, Saint George’s Basilica.
The concert may be viewed by accessing the following link:
The social platform was also used to promote 2020 events that include Feel the Magic of Napoli, Feel the Magic of Maltese Music while Feel the Magic of Ggantija will be available shortly on the digital platform during January 2021. All these can be accessed on the choir’s YouTube channel.
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