One of Malta’s leading orchestra post-war conductors, Sammut was born in Valletta in 1926. His first musical studies were with his father who was bassoonist at the Royal Opera House
and a cellist with the commander-in-chief’s orchestra.
Sammut joined the C-in-C’s orchestra in 1942 as a bassoonist. His interest in conducting led to a British Council scholarship in London where in 1952 he had six months’ private tuition with Sir Malcolm Sargent, followed by a further six months in 1954. A similar scholarship in 1960 allowed him to specialize in British music with Clarence Raybold. He was conductor of the C-in-C’s orchestra (1952-68). When that orchestra was disbanded in 1968, many of its elements formed the nucleus of the newly-formed Manoel Theatre Orchestra of which Sammut remained chief conductor until 1993.
Sammut was also musical director of the Chorus Melitensis (1961-78), directing it in local pioneer performances of Verdi’s Requiem, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Perosi’s La Resurrezione di Cristo, and Faure’s Requiem. He also very successfully revived Anton Nani’s Requiem and conducted the choir at foreign festivals at Arezzo and at the Eisteddfod at Llangollen, Wales when the choir also appeared on ITV.
Since 1970 Sammut has been conductor of the Societa Filarmonica La Valette. That same year he conducted the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra in Japan. He also conducted the concert inaugurating the Aurora Opera House in Gozo in 1976 followed by the very first opera performance in Gozo held at the same opera house (Madame Butterfly) in 1977. He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in works by Charles Camilleri which were released on an LP in 1970.
A busy conducting career left Sammut with little chance to turn to composition but since the early 1980s he has also been very busy in that field. Apart from hundreds of band marches, he has composed a number of works in a larger form. His two oratorios are Ommna tas-Sokkors (1985) and L-Apoteosi ta’ l-Assunta (1987) to texts by Bishop Nikol Cauchi of Gozo. Collaboration with Vincenzo Maria Pellegrini resulted in Id-Dawl tad-Dinja and It-Twelid tal-Feddej, both in 1986 and still unperformed. K. Vella Haber wrote the lyrics to Pietru u Pawlu (1987). His Requiem (1990) was also performed in Konstanz, Germany in February 1995 and is now available in a double CD on the MiM label. Other works are The Lord’s Prayer for bass, choir, and orchestra; Little Symphony (in three movements); Symphonic Poem with Chorus (1989); Ballet Suite; Via Crucis for mezzo, bass, choir, and orchestra (1995); Orchestral Suite in 4 movements (1995) commissioned by MiM; a Fantasia for flute and piano, and Oratorium Der Heilige gerold for soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, bass, choir and orchestra, performed in May 1997.
In 1972 Sammut was nominated knight of grace of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem (International Priory).
Sammut was married Jane Agius (d. 1995), and they had two sons and five daughters.