The Dominican Sonatas by Alexander Vella Gregory

The ‘Dominican Sonatas’

World premiere of two piano sonatas by Alexander Vella Gregory

Sonata No. 7 ‘Meditation’ (2021)
I – Saint Pius V & The Holy Rosary
II – Saint Albert the Great contemplating Wisdom
III – Saint Thomas Aquinas & the Nature of God

Sonata No. 8 ‘Transformations’ (2023)
I – St Hyacinth & the Statue of the Virgin
II – St Raymond Peñafort’s Cloak
III – St Vincent Ferrer’s Tongue
Lumen Ecclesiae (St Dominic of Gusman)

Programme Notes:

The ‘Dominican Sonatas’ project started off as a personal exploration of the piano sonata as a means of meditation and reflection. It has at its core the Dominican spirituality, inspired by the life and works of St Dominic of Guzman and his Order of Preachers founded in 1216. The whole cycle consists of four piano sonatas, with the two Sonatas on the programme forming the second and third instalments of the cycle. Each sonata consists of three movements, each of which explores the hagiography of a Dominican saint. At the end of each sonata is a fourth movement dedicated to St Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers.

Sonata No. 7 ‘Meditation’ looks at the Dominican’s contribution to theology and meditation. The first movement is a meditation on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and Pope St Pius V’s role in its promulgation. The second is a meditation on Wisdom and the figure of St Albert the Great, one of the great medieval theologians. The third movement then looks at St Thomas Aquinas and his monumental contribution to Catholic theology.

Sonata No. 8 ‘Transformations’ exlores a different aspect of Faith – and that is the transformative power of faith. The first movement is dedicated to St Hyacinth of Poland who famously carried a stone statue of the Virgin Mary to safety during the Mongol siege of Kiev in 1240, carrying it ‘as if it weighed no more than a feather’. The second movement looks at St Raymond of Penafort who used his cape and walking stick as a raft to sail away from Majorca to escape King James I of Aragon after repeatedly reproving him for having a mistress. The third movement then looks at St Vincent Ferrer’s powerful preaching, which not only encouraged conversion, but was also understood by all regardless of their nationality.

Both piano sonatas are published by United Music Publishing Ltd, and are available for purchase.

Details

Date: Saturday 1 November at 19:30

Venue: Malta Society of Arts, Palazzo de la Salle, 219, Republic Street, Valletta

Entrance to the concert is free, but donations in aid of the restoration of the 19th century statues by Carlo Darmanin currently being undertaken by Għaqda Festi Esterni San Duminku are welcome.

Artwork: Rosaire Farrugia

Alexander Vella Gregory – Biography

Alexander Vella Gregory was born in Malta in 1984. He studied piano with Paul Borg and Joanne Camilleri, and obtained a Fellowship of the London College of Music (FLCM) diploma in 2013. In 2002, he won the Ian Tomlin Napier/Malta Music Scholarship which enabled him to pursue a B.Mus(Hons) degree in composition at the Ian Tomlin School of Music, Edinburgh Napier University, where he graduated in July 2006 with honours.

Alexander is active as a composer, performer, and teacher. His works have been performed in Malta, London, Berlin, Paris, Edinburgh, Vienna, Frankfurt, Prague, Lisbon, Finland, Armenia, Bulgaria, and the USA. His works are published by United Music Publishers.

Alexander is also an active researcher and has worked with the Notarial Archives Resource Centre in Valletta (Parallel Existences, Kite Publications, 2018) and The Lost Voices Songbook (Filfla Records, 2021). Recent research projects include Ritwali (2021), a research project on ritual in Malta, and Minn Fuq l-Ispalla (2021), a project on rhyming verses within the festa ritual in Malta, in conjunction with the Department of Maltese within the University of Malta. He is currently working on a research project with the Notarial Archives Foundation on recycled 16th century liturgical manuscripts at the Notarial Archives in Valletta. In 2022 he also published his first volume of poetry, titled Codex Melitensis, with Klabb Kotba Maltin through a grant from the National Book Council.

Alexander holds a PhD in Music Composition with Edinburgh Napier University focusing on city narratives using Valletta as an example, and is an Assistant Professor at Triagon Academy. Alexander is also the Artistic Director and a founding member of the Cappella Sanctae Catharinae, Malta’s only male choir, as well as Artistic Director of The Oratories cultural programme at the former Jesuit Church in Valletta since 2022. He is a Trustee of the Ian Tomlin Malta Edinburgh Music Scholarship Fund, and a visiting lecturer with the University of Malta.

Saturday 1 November 2025

7:30pm

Concert Hall of the Malta Society of Arts,
Palazzo de La Salle,
219, Republic Street,
Valletta