Skunk Anansie, the rousing English band together again with its lead singer Skin; Al Jarreau, an American music legend, the only person to have ever won three Grammy Awards in three different genre, pop, jazz and rhythm and blues; Noa, the marvellous Israeli voice fighting for peace in the Middle East; Gigi D’Alessio, the icon of music from Naples; Maria Abela, Maltese soprano of ever-increasing popularity; Cesaria Evora from Cape Verde, the worldwide queen of “Morna”, a genre that merges Brazilian rhythm with the aching melancholy of Portuguese Fado; Antonella Ruggiero, the unrivalled historical voice of Matia Bazar; Lighea, singer-actress, passionate about social issues; Les Pretres, a new group of priests ranking first amongst the top 50 in the music scene in France; the duo Musica Nuda; Emma Marrone, winner of the ninth edition of Amici; Maurizio Tassani, also having started out in a TV programme, Italia’s got talent; the New York State Gospel Choir, the Maltese Choir ‘Voices’ and a children’s choir led by soprano Gillian Zammit, are the artists taking part in the event on the 4th December 2010, the eighteenth Christmas Concert, the traditional television appointment on RAIDUE broadcast on the night of December 24th, providing a musical backdrop on Christmas Eve for all Italians. All will sing live accompanied by the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra. Concert conductor will once again be Renato Serio, with the show being presented for the fourth successive year by Mara Venier.
The concert is produced by Prime Time Promotions to support the campaign of solidarity “HAITI CHIAMA” promoted by the Don Bosco Foundation Worldwide, a Salesian organisation committed to raising funds to support Salesian missions around the world.
The event, initially held in the Vatican in 1993 and then transferred to Monte Carlo and later on to Verona and Catania, this year reaches Malta, in the Mediterranean Conference Centre, a building whose present day use and grand history of the ancient “Infirmary” encloses the crossroads of two destinies, that of the existing Republic of Malta and in the past, and still alive today, the Knights Hospitaller, its original use.
As with the previous editions, the Christmas Concert this year is also being held for charity: the reconstruction of Salesian schools destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti. In support of this project, during the television broadcast of the show, donations from spectators will be collected via a solidarity telephone number made available by the Italian telephone service providers Telecom Italia, TIM, Vodafone, Wind and H3G.
