Mangaluru :
Like sound of music filled the von Trapp house, the Abreos’ home in Texas Houston, US, is filled with the sweet notes of violin. For, this family has seven child violinists and another two are in the making! This probably makes them the only family in the world to have so many fiddlers under one roof.
Dr Gerard Abreo, hailing from Kulshekar here married to Nicole has settled in the US. They have nine children – Michael Joseph, 16, Daniel Francis, 15, Christine Marie, 13, Maria Therese, 11, Jane Elizabeth, 9, Rachel Ann, 7, John Paul, 5, Luke Walter, 3 and the one year old Joseph. Of them while seven play the violin, John Paul has started practicing to join the group. “Luke will also join soon,” says the proud Dr Abreo, a well-known cardiologist. Nicole is an accomplished violinist with a degree to boot.
Why violin? “Violin is a difficult instrument to master. It requires immense concentration, perseverance, endurance and discipline. I believe this helped children do well in studies and it has spilled into their education and moral fibre,” says Dr Abreo adding soon the last one will also hold the fiddle. “They may have been forced to learn violin when they were young. But they play with joy now,” said Dr Abreo to TOI.
He admits the children have a lot of talent, which is backed by lot of hard work. The truth is that both paternal and maternal side has plenty of musical notes in them. Dr Gerard was the part of the Abreo Quartet David, Patsy, Gerald and Peter in the early 70’s at Bengaluru. They performed at various clubs, including the Catholic club, till the quartet broke in 1985 when brothers went to pursue their careers. Dr Abreo had organized a band when studying medicine at St John’s in Bengaluru and his band became the first college band to play at the St John’s Ball in 1990.
To help matters, his wife Nicole, a bachelor in Music from University of Toronto, assists the children in keeping in tune. Daniel says: Since everybody plays, it caught on. We practise every day for an hour at home. Once a week we get tutored. It’s fun.
Nicole, a home maker, says: Gerard helps a lot at home, hence things are easy and manageable even with nine kids around.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / June 25th, 2015