The second part of REMAradio's music for the Christmas holiday season, "In Dulci Jubilo: Early Roots of Christmas Music" explores the music we’ve come to know and love at the holiday time, and especially the early roots of these pieces, both better and less known.

The streets of Valletta, Malta, make for a glorious visit back in time to the Baroque era when the city became one of the first in Europe to be built on an entirely new site, rather than on the foundations of earlier settlements. As the Knights of Malta and the Pope’s engineers toiled at the urban project, the arts and culture of the time swirled through the air. Music by some of the finest maestri di capella of Italy and the rest of Europe could be heard in the new cathedrals and churches of Valletta, and Christmas was the perfect occasion for new, important works to be performed. Join Vlad as he travels through Maltese history, and with the help of Valletta International Baroque Festival director, Kenneth Zammit Tabona, explores Maltese music performed in the buildings they were written for. He’ll also hear what Christmas is like in Malta, with stories and anecdotes from Kenneth, and the musical centrepiece of the programme will be music selected from a stunning concert in Valletta’s Co-Cathedral of St. John where the music of Maltese Baroque composer Girolamo Abos filled the opulent space, thanks to the Kölner Akademie under direction of Michael Alexander Willens. A Baroque musical jewel set in the crown of a Maltese Christmas, showing that great music does indeed come from small islands (especially around Christmas!).

To celebrate the 7th edition of the Early Music Day, Capella de Ministrers performed “Septem Verba” by Pedro de Pastana (c.1495-156). This concert was part of the congress “The musical heritage of the crown of Aragon” - organized by Fundació Cultural CdM

Hanukkah, the Maccabees, and the story of Judith--the various aspects of this story from the Apocrypha, plus the music that has brought it to life across many centuries, featuring an interview with Katarina Livljanic about her reconstruction of the Judita story from Croatian sources. Featuring music performed by Ensemble Dialogos, Cecilia's Circle, and the Choeur du Chambre de Namur and Capella Mediterranea.

The ensemble Musica Antiqua Latina present the programme they will perform for Early Music Day 2019, and that will be live streamed on www.earlymusicday.eu: Rethorique et Romantique.