Young violinist back from European concerts

Gozitan violinist Jean Noel Attard has recently returned from a summer concert-tour with the European Union Youth Orchestra.

For the past four years the 20-year old has been chosen as a full-time member with this prestigious orchestra of young people aged up to 25 from all European countries. During these years he was the only Maltese in the orchestra.

This summer tour saw the orchestra play Mahler, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Satie, Gruber, Janacek and Bruckner in Grafenegg, Amsterdam, Villach, Bolzano, Kassel and Berlin under the baton of Jac van Steen and Vladimir Ashkenazy.

The Amsterdam concert at the Concertgebouw was attended by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Berlin’s Konzerthaus by President of Germany Christian Wulff. Attard had also been a member of the EUYO formation which earlier this year gave a concert in London as part of the Europe Day celebrations.

Attard returns for his final year of studies at the Edinburgh Napier University where he is reading for a Bachelor in Music (Hons) majoring in violin performance as an Ian Tomlin scholar.