Refugee takes Oxford violin to his new life in Australia

A 14-year-old Syrian refugee who received a violin from Oxford has received a visa to start a new life with his family in Australia. Aboud Kaplo was loaned a 19th century German violin by the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments in Oxford's Music Faculty last year. The loan came about after the Faculty was approached by filmmaker Susie Attwood. Susie had met Aboud while filming The Wait , a film about Syriac Christian families waiting in a monastery in Lebanon in hope of receiving a visa for a new country. Susie, herself a violin player who studied music at Oxford, was impressed with Aboud's talent on the violin - especially after she learned that his only education had been from YouTube tutorials and his only instrument was a "cheap and rattly" child-sized violin. Aboud's visa is not only good news for him and his family, but also for his music. He is now in contact with a music college in Sydney and Susie is confident he can now unleash his full potential as a violinist.