Our 2024 Spring Residency and Tour took place in Belgium. As Cultural Ambassadors to the EU for nearly fifty years, we were honoured that all events were presented under the official label of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, as part of its cultural programme. This included performing in Bozar, Brussels, on Europe Day itself, under the patronage of the European Parliament.

Celebrating Belgium, we followed our rehearsal residency in Charleroi with three concerts with three different programmes, a collaboration between the halls of Bruges (Concertgebouw, 8 May), Brussels (Bozar, 9 May), and Charleroi (Palais des Beaux-Arts, 10 May). We gave the world premiere of EUTOPIA, a Tour Commission from the outstanding Belgian composer Annelies Van Parys. We celebrated a further exceptional Belgian musical institution – the Queen Elisabeth Competition – in that our three guest soloists were all QE laureates: Hayoung Choi (cello), Timothy Chooi (violin), and Jonathan Fournel (piano). Our conductor was Alexandre Bloch, Music Director of the Orchestre National de Lille, who made his debut with EUYO.