Teatru Astra and Festival Mediterranea feature in article in the "Frankfurter Rundschau"

In an article entitled “Schöne Schwester” (beautiful sister), journalist Johanna Rüdiger writes about the island region of Gozo.The article focuses mainly on the natural beauty of the island and how much the island has to offer vis-à-vis culture and heritage.

Regarding culture and cultural activities the journalist highlights the fact that this small Mediterranean island has two opera houses that are separated by a few metres.Rüdiger writes that one might repute Gozitans to be a little crazy in having two theatres on an island with a length of 14 kilometres and a width of seven kilometres, with just 30,000 inhabitants.

Whilst touring the island, the journalist met Marion Zammit, described by Rüdiger as a young lady working on a voluntary basis on the organizing committee of Teatru Astra.Surrounded by the lavish seats and golden boxes of the theatre, Ms Zammit proudly explains that the stage of Teatru Astra is big enough to stage any Italian opera and that it is larger than the theatres found on Gozo’s sister island.

Moreover, Teatru Astra’s relative competition is not found on the mainland but in the theatre found a stone’s throw away from the Astra.In this small town on the island the two theatres possess limited resources.For this reason both theatres aim to be the best and to excel in their respective productions.These factions developed due to the strong Christian roots that the island has – the two theatres are run by people hailing from the two parishes of Victoria.The parishioners of St. George’s parish administer Teatru Astra while the parishioners of St. Mary’s are in charge of the Aurora Theatre.

With awe, Marion Zammit recalls 1999, the fateful year in which opera lovers assisted to two productions of Aida in a matter of weeks - the Astra decided to stage Aida and Aurora knowingly opted to stage the same opera.An interesting fact is that these theatres are entirely voluntarily run.In fact, the director and the singers who sing the main parts are the only people who are paid.This year, the two Gozitan theatres are offering two different operas.The Aurora Theatre opted to stage Aida probably to celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the so-called “Aida-scandal”; on the other hand,Teatru Astra went for another Verdi opera – Rigoletto.

Besides focusing on culture, Rüdiger describes Gozo as a small island that is green and has remained natural to such an extent that even the Maltese themselves spend their holidays on the island.There are plans to turn the island into an Eco-island so as to make the island more attractive. Regarding this topic Ms. Rüdiger spoke to Minister for Gozo Giovanna Debono and to Alternattiva Demokratika spokesman Victor Galea.The article is accompanied by a number of pictures depicting the Azure Window, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu and Teatru Astra among others.Besides, readers of the newspaper are also provided with various website addresses for more information on the topics tackled in the article.