Valeriana The Titan's Rock Opus 155, a four-act opera composed by the late Maestro Joseph Vella and completed by Maestro Christopher Muscat based on an award-winning libretto by Vincent Vella.
The opera tells the story of Rosario, a Maltese fisherman, who, having married a local girl, finds himself stranded on the tiny Italian island of Valeriana during the Second World War. The island is under the charge of a despotic fascist podestà named Cirillo. Cirillo is a native of Valeriana and has known great deprivation as a child. He sees action in Africa and comes back to the island with a shattered arm. Having failed to convert Valeriana into another Capri for fascist officials, he now wants to turn it into an impregnable fortress against the Allied Forces, with dire consequences for the inhabitants. It is a comic situation, but one which can and does have tragic outcomes.
Valeriana The Titan's Rock is being produced by Festivals Malta, on the occasion of the Maltabiennale.art 2024, with the support of the Ministry for Heritage, the Arts and Local Government, and the Ministry for Gozo and Planning, and with the collaboration of Teatru Astra. More information can be found on valeriana.mt.