Dominic Galea

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Dominic Galea (born 14 March 1965) is a Maltese pianist/composer from Floriana. He is the eldest in a musical family. His parents are pianist/songwriter Sammy Galea and singer Doreen Galea.

Studies

Dominic used to attend St. Paul's Missionary College and Mount Carmel College. He studied Jazz Piano under his father's guidance and later furthered his studies in London under internationally renowned Jazz pianist/composer Stan Tracey O.B.E. He also studied under Mro Pawlu Grech and at the University of Malta where he obtained a B.A.(Hons) in 2007, and a Masters Degree in 2010, both in music composition.

Musician

Apart from performing with local ensembles, Dominic also played in the Vince Hill Show in the U.K (1987) and took part at the Bratislava Jazz Days (1985), where his composition Horizon performed by himself, Mario Aquilina ''Cocker'', and Charles Gatt was recorded on a double album of international jazz musicians such as Stanly Clarke, John McCloughlin, and Terje Rypdal amongst others. He also took part in the MALTA JAZZ FESTIVAL in 1994, 2003, 2008, 2009 (when he performed with Paris based musicians Yoni Zelnik and Lionel Boccara) and 2011, MALTA JAZZ FRINGE 2007,and at the Paradise Jazz Festival (2005) in Cyprus along with several other Arts Festivals. In 2011 he was also invited to perform the jazz concert Dominic Galea & Friends at the Manoel Theatre.

Songwriting

By 1983 Galea had started writing his first songs. He won the Malta Song Festival at the age of 18 with Ħabib Tinsiex sung by the late George Agius. He also won the Best Young Composer Award in Alexandria, Egypt 1983 with the same song. His composition Sakemm sung by Catherine Vigar won 3rd prize at the Bratislava Lyre Song Festival in 1983, and Seventh Heaven sung by Mary Spiteri placed 2nd in the Australian Open Song Festival in 1988. All these three songs had lyrics by his mother Doreen Galea. Dominic also won 1st prize at the Golden Disc Children’s Festival in Bulgaria with Ewropa Gdida lyrics by Paul Callus and sung by Annalise Ellul in 1993. He also won various local song contests and participated in Italy, Turkey, Lithuania, Belorussia and Rumania.

Musicals

Galea composed 14 musicals, six of which were premiered at the prestigious Iljieli Mediterranji Arts Festival namely Ulied in-Nanna Venut fl-Amerka (1991), Il-Gwerra ta’ Spiru Cefai (1992), Żeża tal-Flagship (1996), It-Tfajla tal-Palazz (1997), Karmena Abdilla (1998) and Manwel, Manwel (2000). All lyrics for the mentioned musicals together with Rita ta’ Cascia (2000), and Jien Ġużeppi (2006) are by Ray Mahoney. Other musicals include: Malteaser with lyrics by Charles Flores (1989), L-Għarusa tal-Mosta lyrics by Alfred C. Sant (1995),Erwieħ 2 lyrics by Zep Camilleri (2003) and Once Upon A Toy with lyrics by Patrick Vella (2007). He was also co-writer of Andrelisa with Sammy Galea and lyrics by the late Gorg Saliba (1994), and Il-Ħanut tal-Ġugarelli with Sammy Galea and lyrics by Charles Mifsud (1999).

Compositions and Awards

Dominic is also the composer of a ballet; Red Rose for a Ballerina book by the late John Baldacchino (1997), and music for Joe Friggieri’s theatre comedy Tkun Darb’oħra Mikelanġ (2000). An anthology of his songs, lyrics by Joe Friggieri, is also recorded under the title Tgħidlix (1998). He is also the composer for Doreen Galea’s highly acclaimed album Ommi (2009): a celebration of Maltese romantic songs and Għanja, sung by various artists (2011), commemorating the 50th anniversary from the death of Malta’s national poet Dun Karm Psaila.

With his brother Benedict Galea, Dominic composed an original jazz album entitled Mnajdra Jazz Suite(2001) which was inspired by a tragic incident at the megalithic temples of Mnajdra. Maltese folk music was also employed in the jazz idiom. Other jazz albums include No Talk-No Nonsense: trio with Mario Aquilina and Noel Grech(2002), Tribute: a collective collaboration between thirty of the top local musicians (2004) and Advanced Decomposition: trio with Walter Vella and Joe Micallef (2010). The recordings for all these works were by his brother Manolito Galea.

Dominic Galea won the BEST COMPOSER AWARD at the Malta Music Awards in 2001. In the same year he was awarded the “Outstanding Musicianship Award” from Berklee in Umbria Perugia. In 2004 he placed first at the Music World Festival in Italy in the Musica Moderna section with his instrumental compositionLament. In 2011 he was awarded the One Tribute 20th Anniversary Award for his contribution as a musician and composer throughout the years, and a F.L.C.M. Diploma in Professional Achievement from the London College of Music.

Dominic has also composed various TV signature tunes, incidental music for teleserials and a large number of songs. He also composed the background music for Phillip Farrugia Randon’s, “Puttinu u Toninu - children’s story” (2001).

Galea teaches Degree Plus courses in Pop and Jazz Music at the University of Malta


See also

Category:Dominic Galea Photos

Category:Dominic Galea Event Posters & Flyers

External links