Choir festivals and competitions are a feature of the social calendar for a number of holiday destinations around Europe. This year it started on the 29th October with Malta's 4th International Choir Competition and Festival taking place using various locations around the island. Malta is fortunate to have an expansive choice of concert venues, with there being 365 churches on the island.

In previous years choirs have come to the Malta Festival from all over Europe including countries such as Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany and Poland. In addition to the competitive parts of the programme, which saw choirs singing in various different categories, there was also a number of workshops where the choirs benefitted from the guidance of some world famous choral conductors. The event was advertised as an opportunity for choirs to meet and get together with groups from other nations and cultures.

The programme for this year's event started with a public parade of the choirs on 29th October at the City Gate in Valletta, followed by an opening ceremony in Valletta's Palace Courtyard at 7pm. The first choirs performed competitively the following morning at 9am in the St Publius Church in Floriana. At midday on 30th October participating choirs performed an outdoor concert in St John's Square, Valletta. The main performance of the Festival was the Grand Concert which was scheduled for 7:30 pm on 30th October at Valletta's Mediterranean Conference Centre. This is a spectacular venue that has been sympathetically restored to provide inspiring surroundings for a variety of events. The buildings date back the era of the Grand Masters, with some parts of the centre being over four hundred years old. The British Garrison on Malta used the building as a hospital for over a hundred years and, despite four direct hits during World War II, the building remains one of the most impressive event venues on Malta.