Two contrasting styles of music were set to be performed on the island of Malta during March and April, and the culturally aware audiences on the island were bound to appreciate both.

Each year the BOV Opera Festival is a popular week long series of different operas, taking place at Manoel Theatre in the capital Valletta. On the 17th and 19th March Malta's own Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied some of the island's top vocalists in evenings which featured two classic operas. These were 'Il Cambiale di Matrimonio' by Rossini and 'Aleko' by Rachmaninov. La Cambiale is a tale set in 18th Century England, when a local merchant agrees to marry off his daughter to a wealthy Canadian businessman. The daughter's lover has other ideas and a series of conflicts and resolutions ensues. Aleko follows the story of a band of gypsies and the character Aleko, who has left behind traditional civilisation in search of nomadic happiness. Relationships and love affairs are central to this plot too, although in this case the outcome is less of a happy ending. The performances started at 19:30.

As the Opera festival ends, music fans on Malta can prepare themselves for the arrival of a very well known pop personality. International pop stars are quite rare on the island of Malta, although there have been concerts in recent times by Michael Bolton, Tom Jones, Brian Adams, Elton John, Sting, Rod Stewart, Duran Duran and, in 2009, Moby. MTV also hosted an event on Malta during 2009 that saw Lady GaGa and The Black Eyed Peas performing. On April 3rd this year, Boyzone front man Ronan Keating will perform a solo concert at the MFCC arena, Ta' Qali, the usual venue for any large concerts on Malta. Fans of Keating will be hoping to hear hits like "Life Is A Rollercoaster", "When You Say Nothing At All" and "If Tomorrow never Comes". The performance comes at the end of a UK Tour which features concerts at 16 UK venues followed by performances in Ireland and Germany before concluding the tour in Malta. Ticket prices range between 35 Euros for standing areas and 50 Euros and 100 Euros for seating sections.

Flythomascook.com operates a full summer flights schedule to Malta from the UK.