About
A historic venue. Maltese stories. Live music and theatre — experienced where the stories belong.
The producer
Mdina Resounds is an immersive music and theatre production staged inside one of Mdina’s most storied venues, performed by exceptional Maltese talent and produced by Udjenza.
Where the venue becomes part of the story
The premise is simple: some rooms in Mdina carry their own story, and experiencing a performance inside them offers something a traditional theatre cannot.
St Paul’s Cathedral, in the heart of Mdina, is the mother church of the Maltese Diocese and the seat of the Archbishop of Malta. Staging a performance inside it places the audience within a genuine historic space, not a recreated set.
Immersive performances rooted in Mdina
Echoes of the Silent City leads its audience through St Paul’s Cathedral and spaces rarely open to the public, weaving theatrical storytelling with live music and song as it goes.
Every Mdina Resounds performance brings together accomplished Maltese musicians, singers and actors, with casts rotating by performance date.
As one arrives into the main square in the centre of the city of Mdina, one simply cannot miss the Cathedral right in the heart of this square. The baroque building, designed by Lorenzo Gafà, commands an undeniable gravitas that leaves those who behold it awestruck at the sheer magnitude of it. Flanked by two palaces of the same style of architecture, the Cathedral is evidently a dominant structure within the old city of Mdina. The baroque palaces surrounding it are the old seminary and the episcopal residence, the former accommodating the Cathedral Museum.
The Cathedral is the metaphoric mother of all Maltese churches, and it is also the seat — the Sedia — of the Maltese Archbishop, from where he shares the word of God during religious celebrations. The Maltese Archbishop is the head of the Diocese, and it is through this Cathedral that he governs and co-ordinates it. In 1944, the Bishop of Malta was given the title of Metropolitan Archbishop and Head of the Ecclesiastical Province of Malta and Gozo, thus giving the Cathedral the title ‘Metropolitan’.
Though the bishops of Malta have not always lived on the island since Norman times, the Cathedral has always been their seat. Since the Order of the Knights of St John arrived on the islands in 1530, the succession has been regular. During the time of the Order, only a single Maltese native became bishop — Baldassare Cagliares, who held the seat from 1615 to 1633 — while all bishops after 1807 were Maltese. After the French occupation, which ended in the early years of the nineteenth century, the Cathedral Chapter began to fulfil its duties in the Cathedral in Mdina as well as the Co-Cathedral of St John’s in Valletta.
On stage
Music & Performers
Mdina Resounds brings together an accomplished ensemble of Maltese musicians, singers and actors, performing live inside St Paul’s Cathedral.
The programme ranges from Gregorian chant and sacred hymns to Baroque masters including Bach and Rossini, alongside the Maltese composer Pietro Paolo Bugeja.
The cast rotates by date. Different artists perform on different dates, and the musical programme may be subject to slight changes.