Marina Eichberg is a 20-year-old violist from Bethlehem. In 2012 she participated in the British Council/Choir of London Bursary Scheme for young Palestinian musicians, and in 2013 she played again with the Choir in performances of Benjamin Britten’s Saint Nicolas in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Here she shares her memories of the Bursary Scheme.

The time that I spent in the UK on the Choir of London Bursary Scheme in 2012 was unforgettable. I spent the first week on an orchestra course just outside of London. Every time a person has the chance to participate in an orchestra is a chance to learn and the amount of things you acquire for your later career - musical or not - are really useful and important.

The second week was spent playing chamber music and having masterclasses with professional musicians at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Chamber music was my personal highlight in the programme. I love playing in chamber music groups where all of the players are in sync with ideas and energy, and it helped us tremendously because we had two professional musicians playing with us, so I personally wasn't afraid to hold back and gave it my all for the sake of collectively joining our energies to produce beautiful music.

Shortly after attending the Bursary Scheme I decided to audition for music colleges and I was fortunate to be offered a place at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, where I am now in the middle of my Bachelor of Music studies.

As a musician, my ultimate goal is to play in an orchestra and a chamber music group. The Bursary Scheme opened my eyes on how it really is in the professional music world; of course I already knew one has to work extremely hard to achieve their goals, and the Scheme gave me a little taste of that and made me want to continue with all my power.

I was overjoyed when I heard that the Choir of London were coming here to Palestine again as part of the Palestine Choral Festival [in August 2013], I was going to be able to see them all again and get the chance to play with them again!

The Bursary Scheme is extremely important to the musical children of Palestine because more and more Palestinian children are now hoping to study music abroad. Certain things are expected from you when you go and begin your studies,which are - unfortunately - not all available here in Palestine. This project helped me to live and learn and acquire these skills, both social and musical. I hope that more Palestinian children will have this chance to gain the skills that they will need when they actually go and follow their dreams.