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Conductor (+1)

Conductor, Composer

John Galea

Malta

Conductor

Composer

Artist

Approved

Franco Donatoni, Charles Camilleri, John Gardner, Fabrizio della Seta, Lior Shambadal mentored composer, musicologist and conductor John Galea while pursuing studies at the University of Durham, and doctoral studies both at the Università degli Studi di Pavia (Musicology) and the Università ta’ Malta (Composition). He is also a Fellow of Trinity College of Music, London, and a
Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (Piano Performance).

His musical style possesses a Mediterranean-inspired idiom that warmly shines forth in his works that range from solo to chamber, choral and orchestral works. His compositions have been performed in Malta, Greece, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and the United Kingdom and recorded on various CDs recorded mainly at the BNR in Sofia, Bulgaria. During the years, John Galea
has been invited regularly to conduct the Manoel Theatre Orchestra, the National Orchestra, The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kurgan State Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Sinfonietta and the Sofia Collegium Symphony Orchestra. He has also been invited on various occasions to sit on and chair the adjudicating panel of the prestigious Valentino Bucchi Composition Competition in Rome, the Mikulas Schneider-Trnavsky Vocal Competition in Slovakia, the International Sollima Piano competition in Palermo, the Giacomo Candela International Competition, Buseto Palizzolo, (Sicily) and the Malta International Choir Festival. John Galea is the long-standing conductor of Chorus Urbanus (Victoria, Gozo, Malta) (1979), and the King’s Own
Philharmonic Society (Valletta, Malta) (2013). As from December 2018, he has been appointed Resident Conductor of Opera at Teatru Astra (Gozo, Malta) and conductor of the La Stella Philharmonic Society.
John Galea has also been instrumental in introducing children’s opera in Malta with a string of successful performances conducting the Royal Academy Ensemble (London) in John Gardner’s 'Bel and the Dragon' at the Manoel Theatre. During 1999, John Galea was commissioned to prepare a performing and critical edition of Nicolò Isouard’s ‘Messa Leggiera’, which had been successfully
revived during the first edition of the Manoel Theatre Opera Festival. 

At present he is also the artistic director of both the 'Festival Mediterranea' and 'Feel the
Magic 2019-24' cultural projects that are both funded by Arts Council Malta. Galea has also been invited to participate and has read papers in the international meetings, namely that of choir conductors and composers in Barcelona, various Valentino Bucchi Competitions during Round-table conferences and at the International Harp Congress in Dublin. He has also conducted composition
masterclasses at the Music Conservatoires in Trapani, Venezia, Firenze and at the Università degli Studi di Catania, the University of Tor Vergata (Rome), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Haifa (Israel) and at Xiamen University (China).


Next year, John Galea will be featured in a Routledge publication on political
commitment in Verdi.

As a University of Malta resident academic, Dr John Galea has served for eight
years as Head of the Music Department, guaranteeing the smooth transition from
a Music Studies Division to a Department within the School of Performing Arts.
During his tenure various drafts of MOUs with strategic partners namely the
Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Għaqda Każini tal-Baned were drawn and
subsequently realised.

Dr John Galea has also been a member of the POLIFONIA III Cycle, Working Group 5, an EU three-year project (2012-2015) run by the Association of European Conservatoires particularly entrusted with the diffusion of the practice of External Examining in Higher Education Institutions across the European
Union, of which Malta already adopts such practices.

John Galea / Repertoire

Repertoire

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