Once again, the Salesian Theatre in Sliema was the location for the Austrian Advent celebration organised by Volksbank Malta for customers, business partners and the German speaking community in Malta.

“The concert, which was this year held under the patronage of Austrian Ambassador Petra Schneebauer and attended by the German Ambassador, Hubert Ziegler and his wife, has become a fixed event in the diary of the bank’s associates,” said managing director Herbert Skok. “The event has been held now for five consecutive years, and it seems to become more popular every year.”

“In order to make the event really authentic, the bank once again brought over the five musicians from East Tyrol to entertain the guests with their lovely mixture of Christmas songs,” Mr Skok explained. “The two families come from the small village Matrei, where the tradition of families singing and making music together is still kept alive. Besides guitars and trumpet, this year there was also a violin played by one of the younger daughters – this was actually her first public performance with the family.”

The musicians once again enlightened the guests with a mixture of beautiful traditional Christmas tunes from their home country and with well known international songs. The guests shared the Christmas spirit when joining the singers in some of the classic Christmas songs in their own language.

During the break, the guests were treated to home-made Austrian Christmas sweets and a cup of freshly prepared mulled wine, which added to the Christmas atmosphere of the evening.

“The concert was very well attended by our customers, business partners and also by the members of the Austrian and German Community in Malta”, Mr Skok explained. “And we are very proud that we received such a positive feedback, even though some of the songs were in Austrian dialect.”