Born in Malta, Lucia studied the piano with Giovanna Bascetta and later with Lois Phillips at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Lucia has performed as a soloist in various countries and played with several orchestras including the Britten Sinfonia, The Virtuosi of London and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. She is also a chamber music player and has collaborated with many fine musicians such as Stefan Popov, Daniel Hope and Vladimir Ovchinnikov. In 2011, she made a recording of The Love Songs of Paolo Tosti with soprano Gillian Zammit and her recording of Bach Keyboard Concertos with the European Union Chamber Orchestra conducted by Brian Schembri was released by Divine Art to critical acclaim. Apart from her work as a pianist, Lucia has been artistic director of several festivals and other cultural activities including Arts 2000, Celebrating Handel, Celebrating Britten and The Three Palaces.
Andrew is an architect and curator with an interdisciplinary practice across the fields of narrative, research, design and theatre. His practice has developed through collaborative relationships with architecture, fashion and design studios, public cultural organisations and individual cultural practitioners across a variety of projects, alongside the development of bespoke interior, furniture and product design. Andrew graduated from an M (Arch.) Architectural Design from the University of Malta in 2017, and in 2021 concluded an MA in Culture, Criticism and Curations from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts in London.
After studying at Central Saint Martins (UAL) and the University of Malta, creative director Luke Azzopardi launched his eponymous brand. The Luke Azzopardi Studio focuses on the idea of timeless elegance stemming from Luke’s academic background in costume history. In his capacity as creative director, Luke was awarded the prestigious ‘Premio Cultura e Moda 2016’ by L’Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the ‘Fashion Designer of the Year 2018’ award by LovinMalta, and was, most recently, been shortlisted for the award of ‘Artist of the Year 2018/19’ by Arts Council Malta. As a multidisciplinary designer, Azzopardi has designed large-scale national and international operatic as well as contemporary dance productions and, alongside Open Square Collective, has been chosen by Arts Council Malta to design the country’s debut pavilion at the London Design Biennale 2023. His research on Malta’s national costume, titled Għonnella: Deconstructing the Garment, was published by MidSea Books in 2022.
Gillian is a versatile performer with an operatic repertoire that ranges from Baroque to twentieth-century opera. Highly regarded as a recital singer with a varied repertoire of Lieder, Spanish and French songs and a respected exponent of Baroque music, she has collaborated with artists such as Joseph Calleja, Emma Kirkby, Ramon Tebar and Placido Domingo, amongst others. She has recorded a number of CDs for Claudio Records and Parma Recordings and has performed in the US, England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Holland and Belgium. Gillian is very involved in music education and is the director of the St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation’s Children’s Choir and The Joseph Calleja BOV Children’s Choir and also trains local based singers in Baroque technique within the Monteverdi Project for Festivals Malta.
Born in Scotland, her recent directing credits include The Three Sunsets and Hush (both written with Luke Saydon); Pagliacci, Elisir d’amore, Orphee and Dido & Aeneas for Teatru Manoel; Elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor for Belle Ile-en-Mer Opera, France; La Boheme film project for MPO; Viva Verdi and Viva l’Opera for Gaulitana festival; Il-Qtates ta’ max-Xatt for Teatru Malta; and Ernest and the Pale Moon and Jamboy for The Shrinking Violets. Her most recent projects include the new Maltese musical It-Teatru tal-Miskin for Saydon Studio; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Teatru Salesjan and In Other Words for The Shrinking Violets.
Karl was born in Malta in 1979. He studied at the University of Malta with Charles Camilleri, and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Royal College of Music in London. He was joint winner of Boston University’s ALEAIII International Composition Competition in September 2004. He is artistic director of Malta’s International Spring Orchestra Festival and has been composer in residence at Portugal’s Orquestra do Norte and at the Conservatoire in Avignon. His works include the acclaimed Trio Lamina for violin, clarinet and piano, and Solitudni fil-Belt for narrator, mezzo, violin/viola, clarinet/bass clarinet and piano.
Michael Zerafa is an architect, designer and researcher currently working at A Collective as well as in collaboration with Luke Azzopardi Studio. His research is focused primarily on the politics of public space and democracy, with particular interest in happenings in Valletta. Michael is also a co-founder of bloc, a creative collective in Malta working in product and furniture design. He has formed part of collaborative architecture research projects including Experiments in Entropy at Valletta Contemporary in December 2022, Barra!, alongside Andrew Borg Wirth, at The Bartlett in London (2021) and Chalet in Action (2020) for Nidum in Moscow.
Maria Theuma is a writer, artist and researcher. Her writing, in Maltese and English, has appeared on various platforms, both online and in print, such as Scintillas: New Maltese Writing 1 (Praspar Press, London), as well as part of various collaborative multimedia projects and site-specific installations. She has reviewed art and theatre for The Sunday Times of Malta and Malta Today, among others. Her research interests are across posthumanism, literary theory, comparative literature and visual cultures. Maria holds a PhD in English.
Rebecca’s passion for art came at a relatively young age and it has always been her life’s aspiration. Today she has created her own unique style in tattooing, illustrating, and customizing helmets and other items. She attended her first art classes in secondary school and went on to get her degree in Fine Arts from the MCAST Art and Design Institute in Malta. Rebecca started tattooing in 2015 at the age of 23. She enjoys it mainly because she gets to draw her own designs on people every day, which she finds rewarding.
With over thirty years experience in the cultural sector as a musician, event producer, policy maker and CEO, Davinia has co-authored policies, led successful bids and is an appointed expert and advisor in international fora. policies, led successful bids and is an appointed expert and advisor in international fora. She is the founder and Managing Director of ARC Research & Consultancy.
A cultural manager with more than seven years’ experience working in the creative sector, Elaine has managed funding programmes, devised strategies, and set up significant initiatives in the local sectors.
Alessia Caruana is a marketing and PR consultant who specialises in content creation, social media strategy and brand management.
