Successful concert by Sliema Band

Tenor Joseph Aquilina and soprano Andrijana Jordanova sang together in duet Non ti scordar di me by Ernesto de Curtis, accompanied by the Sliema Band under the baton of Ronnie Debattista, during the band's Celebrity Concert for Europe held on April 10 at the University of Malta. Both singers received long applauses from the audience especially after their bis of Tace il Labbro from Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow. The Sliema Band also got a well-deserved ovation after playing Tchaikovsky's 1812.

Likewise, trumpet soloist Sigmund Mifsud was hailed by those present for his special interpretation of Haydn's Trumpet Concert in Eb.

Attending the concert and accompanying Sliema Band president Jesmond Vella and committee officials were the Minister of Resources and Rural Affairs, George Pullicino and members of Parliament Robert Arrigo and Francis Zammit Dimech.

The concert, marking Malta's entry in the European Union and Sliema Band's successes in Brussels in 2003, also included Jean Sibelius' Finlandia, Vincenzo Bellini's overture Norma, the aria O tu che in seno agli angeli from Verdi's La Forza del destino, Ruggiero Leoncavallo's Mattinata for Mr Aquilina, the aria Tacea la notte placida from Verdi's Il Trovatore, Casta Diva from Bellini's Norma for Ms Jordanova and the duet Parigi o cara noi lasceremo from Verdi's La Traviata.

The concert, presented by Joyce Guillaumier, ended with Van Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Cardenio Botti's Inno Sliema and the national anthem.