Fiorini Piano Sonatas – Concert organised by NAPA

Fiorini Piano Sonatas

Concert by Pianist Christine Zerafa

Organised by the National Agency for Performing Arts (NAPA)

Karl Fiorini’s three piano sonatas date from 2017, 2021, and 2025, with the most recent having been commissioned by pianist Christine Zerafa as part of a project funded by Arts Council Malta.

These three works are coincidentally spaced out equally in four-year intervals and they show contrasting characteristics while also giving us a glimpse into the evolving language of the composer’s piano writing.

The first sonata is a three-movement work and is characterised by thematic material in dotted rhythm, chordal textures inspired by jazz, as well as recurring melodic patterns of expanding intervals.

The second and third sonatas demonstrate a slight expansion in structure as they explore the four-movement sonata structure. The second sonata was written during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it demonstrates significant depth of melodic and harmonic material particularly in the slow third movement.

The composer also starts experimenting with cross-rhythms, a tool which is further developed and expanded in the most recent third Sonata. The variety of cross-rhythms explored in the third sonata present new challenges to the performer, and simultaneously offer the audience an experience of quasi-minimalistic effect on which the subtle melodic material floats seamlessly.

CHRISTINE ZERAFA, PIANIST – Biography

Described by critics as “a musician with a warm and very communicative personality” (The Times of Malta) and praised for her “sensual, silky tone and virtuoso command” (The Evening Standard, London), pianist Christine Zerafa has performed in notable international venues and festivals including the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Oxford Lieder Festival and Cheltenham Festival, amongst others. Most recently she was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (RAM), an honour awarded in recognition of her significant contribution to the music profession.

Christine has been recipient of various awards including the Bice Mizzi National Competition, the Royal Northern College of Music Clifton Helliwell Prize, the RAM Scott Huxley prize for piano accompaniment, the Schumann Lieder pianist prize, as well as the Eric Brough Prize and the John B McEwen Prize during her studies. Christine was twice selected as a Park Lane Group Artist and she was also an award winner on the Tunnell Trust Artist Chamber Music Scheme.

Christine gained a Master of Music in solo performance from the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Norma Fisher and Paul Janes, after which she moved on to study with Andrea Lucchesini at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Florence. She then read for a Master of Music degree in piano accompaniment, which she completed with distinction at the Royal Academy of Music under the tuition of Michael Dussek, Malcolm Martineau and Ian Brown. She also completed her PhD at the Royal Academy of Music. Christine is currently based in Malta, where she enjoys a busy schedule as a concert pianist, researcher and educator.

KARL FIORINI, COMPOSER – Biography

Karl is a composer, pianist, and festival director. He completed a Masters in Music Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and earned his Doctorate from the Royal College of Music, London. His extensive body of work includes over 50 compositions, ranging from solo and chamber music to pieces for film, theatre, dance, and large symphonic works.                                                                                           

These compositions are regularly performed across Europe, making him a sought-after composer. His works have been recorded and released by Divine Art Recordings and Grand Piano Naxos.

Friday 4 April 2025

7.30pm

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