Musically yours: Meet Hyd's violinists who will represent India at I-day concert in Hungary

Hyderabad: Naga Pushpika, 17, is excited to represent India in Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav musical concert at the Indian Embassy in Hungary. Interestingly, her 13-year-old sister Swarna Pushpika is also taking part in the big event.

"It is our first international performance and we are excited about it," says Naga Pushpika, a 12th-standard student at Hyderabad's Aga Khan Academy.

Around 25 young artists from the Indo-European Youth Orchestra (IEYO) will be performing at the Indian Embassy in Hungary on August 13, two days before India's 75th Independence Day. IEYO, founded by Michael Makhal is one of the first western classical youth orchestras from India that performed in Europe.

For this year's Independence Day concert, there are three participants from Hyderabad including Naga Pushpika and Swarna Pushpika. Naga and Swarna are trained violinists. They started learning violin in 2018 and a year later they joined western classical violinist Michael Makhal's academy in Hyderabad. They had to do a lot of unlearning to learn the right approach.

From left: Swarna Pushpika, Naga Pushpika

For Hungary event, both of them were selected after an audition that Michael conducted among his students. "The practice is going on well. We initially learn our parts and then when we go to class, we play together to practice the coordination," explains Naga.

Beyond music and developing her skills, Naga also says that she has been able to make a lot of friends during her practice sessions as the team consists of people from other countries as well.

Another participant Doyun Kwak, originally from South Korea, has been a resident of Mumbai for the last 8 years. Doyun, who is in 8th standard, says that it was his mother who encouraged him to try learning violin four years back. He is excited to be a part of such a big event, but at the same time, he is nervous too. "I am a little nervous. There are too many songs to practice," he says.

His mother Sunwoo Park says that she is proud and honored that her son is participating in an Indian orchestra as a Korean." During the summer vacation, he practiced almost every day for the event and there were many songs to do, so there were difficult parts, but he is practicing as best as he can," says Sunwoo Park.

"We came to Mumbai in 2014 on the issuance of his father's company and we live here until now. He learned guitar at an American school in 2016. He was talented at playing the guitar and I encouraged him to learn the violin. He has been pursuing violin since 2018. He is passionate about it and has been learning steadily," she added.

Another young violinist, Varun Lanka from Hyderabad is also part of the IEYO team representing India in Hungary. Varun's journey with Violin started at an early age of 6 in Sanjose, CA, and he continued his lessons with Art of Violin school under the tutelage of Michael Makhal. Varun also plays Tabla. "It is a wonderful opportunity to learn, collaborate and perform with accomplished musicians of IEYO as well as with young musicians like me who will be joining from different parts of India and other countries," said Varun. Speaking about the opportunity, Varun's mother Rama Lanka said, "As parents we are super excited for Varun's participation for 2nd time in IEYO and he has also got selected as first chair violinist for few compositions as part of Indo European Youth Orchestra."

IEYO founder Michael Makhal, says that it is an honor to get an opportunity to play at the Indian Embassy in Hungary. "We are honored to be part of the 75th Independence year celebration of our incredible country India and to be able to have the esteemed opportunity to spread the message of unity and love through our performance. This is truly going to be a memorable performance for all the members of the orchestra and a great honor indeed," said Michael.

The IEYO artists will also perform at the Festetics Palace in Budapest in Hungary on 14 August.