Kenneth Zammit Tabona was born in 1956 and educated at St Aloysius College. Worked for Barclays Bank, Mid Med Bank and HSBC Bank from 1973 to 2001in various managerial roles including Head of Business Development, Public Relations, Advertising and Customer Service. Mr Zammit Tabona had reviewed music and theatre for the Malta Times and Sunday Times from 1975 to 2010. Served on the Manoel Theatre management Committee from 1989 to 1996 and 1998 to 2004 as Hon Secretary and from 2010 to 2015 as Deputy Chairman.
For several years Mr Zammit Tabona was a fellow director with the late Cavaliere Alfredo Spiteri Mallia who was for many years president of Circolo Dante Alighieri in malta and who with Impresa Cantoni kept Italian opera alive despite adverse conditions. Cav. Spiteri mentored Mr Zammit Tabona who keeps his memory alive as his beacon in all his operatic work.
In 2014 Mr Zammit Tabona was appointed as the first Artistic Director of the theatre taking care of all events from opera to prose to chamber music and solo recitals. He is the founder and artistic director of the Valletta International Baroque Festival since 2012. The festival has gone from strength to strength and has had prestigious performances by leading international ensembles from most European countries in top baroque locations besides the theatre, showcasing Malta’s unique artistic and architectural heritage.
Mr Zammit Tabona has also founded the Valletta Baroque Ensemble and The Monteverdi Project with the aim of having locally based performers to execute works by 17th and 18th Maltese and Italian composers in the employ of the Episcopate of Malta and the Order of Malta. Many of these worked and studied in Naples at the Bourbon Court with famous composers like Porpora, Durante and Pergolesi.
Mr Zammit Tabona is also a well known Maltese book illustrator and watercolourist with many exhibitions under his belt and paintings found in prestigious collections both in Malta and overseas including Berleymont in Bruxelles. His is an instantly recognizable style using strong colours and distinctive shapes always epitomising the beauty of his land of birth; whether through its landscape, urbanscape or interiors.
Mr Zammit Tabona is a board member of Versailles based Reseau Europeen de Musique Ancienne and former president of the Association of Historic Theatres of Europe. He has been awarded Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government and Cavaliere Dell’ Ordine della Stella d ‘Italia by the Italian government for his services to culture. Mr Zammit Tabona was also the founder president of the Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts.
