The City of Belfast Youth Orchestra, formed in 1955, has toured Europe this Summer including stops in both Belgium and the Netherlands. Their time in Belgium included performances in Leuven and Brussels with our office fortunate enough to host the talented young musicians. While here, the musicians also undertook a wide range of activities including a tour of the Hemicycle and briefing at the European Parliament and a visit to the House of European History.
Lunchtime Concert performed in our largest event space named ‘Narnia’
In Brussels, they first performed for a lunchtime audience in the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels followed by an evening concert at the beautiful Eglise Notre Dame, Place du Grand Sablon. Andrew Elliott, Head of Office, was delighted to co-host the lunchtime event alongside Hungarian Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU, Tibor Stelbaczky. The concert saw a beautiful collaboration of Northern Irish and Hungarian music as the orchestra was joined by Ms Erzsébet Gódor on Cimbalom.
(Left – Right) UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU, Katrina Williams; Deputy Permanent Representative for Hungary to the EU, Tibor Stelbaczky; Head of the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels, Andrew Elliott; Hungarian Ambassador to Belgium, Tamás Iván Kováca; British Ambassador to Belgium, Martin Shearman.
The energy and talent of the youth orchestra was evident to all our guests including a number of high profile and distinguished friends of the office. Guests were welcomed to the office with Hungarian wine and Northern Irish award winning cheese. You can find our more about these and other delicious NI produce in the images below or by visiting Food NI.
Hungarian Wine 
Ditty’s Irish Oatcakes 
Ballylisk of Armagh’s Triple Rose Cheese 
Dart Mountain Cheese, Tyrone & Wee Crafty Dark Ale Beer Spread of Derry/Londonderry
We are grateful to the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra, the talented musicians and their manager, Robert Briscoe, as well as the Hungarian Deputy Permanent Representation to the EU and Erzébet Gúdor (cimbalom) for this successful collaboration. The lunchtime concert served as a vibrant break to the working day and a wonderful prelude to the popular evening concert. Read more about how our guests enjoyed the lunchtime and evening concerts below.