Applause, honour and praise where showered on the Armed Forces of Malta Band after its performance of Verdi's Aida at Modena. Such were the comments of the Gazzetta di Modena adding further praise for the Director of the Italian Choir and the AFM Bandmaster for their "impresa titanica".

The Armed Forces of Malta Band has recently taken part in the 11th edition of the Festival Internazionale Bande Militari held in the Italian city of Modena.

This festival takes place in the Officer Cadets' Military Academy with the main shows being held in the famous Piazza Roma in addition with Palazzo Ducale for seated programs. Bands and Military dance teams from 6 different countries, including Malta, participated in this year's festival, that attracted more than seventeen thousand spectators during the six performances held over a five-day period.

Shots of the same festival, including the AFM Band's performances, were shown daily on the Italian TV channel TRC, and occasionally even on the Canale 5 channel.

The participants in this festival were:
o The Band of the Royal Lancers Regiment (United Kingdom)
o The Armed Forces of Malta Band (Malta)
o The Band of the Artillery Brigade (Italy)
o The Armed Forces of Slovenia Orchestra (Slovenia)
o Central Police Band of Belarus (Belarus)
o Sixth Fleet Band of the U.S. Navy (USA)
o Alpina Julia Fanfare Brigade (Italy)

The festival kicked off on Tuesday 9th July 2002 at 9 p.m. when all participating bands formed up together in Piazza Roma and played their respective National Anthems followed by a display from each band lasting about 30 minutes. To top up the day, all participating bands then marched along the roads of Modena playing their own band marches.

Wednesday was dedicated to a seated program at the Palazzo Ducale, where all the bands performed a pre-arranged programme of their own. The AFM Band was chosen out of all participating bands to carry out their performance together with one of the most popular choirs in the northern part of Italy, the Corali Rossini made up of 120 vocalists. This performance concluded the day with three pieces of Italian music, including the famous Aida of Verdi. The latter was extremely welcomed by the audience, who, while applauding for an excellent performance, asked for an encore!

Band marching displays were carried out on Thursday, with all participating bands giving their maximum effort on Piazza Roma. To conclude the programme for the day all the bands played a number of pieces in massed formation, with the AFM acting bandmaster conducting the first piece.

The last two days consisted of another seated programme during which the AFM Band played a selection of folklore music from Malta and several marches through the streets of Modena.

The AFM Band was made up of acting Bandmaster WOII Carmel Pace and forty-one bandsmen including the acting Trumpet Major WOII Raymond Cremona. Accompanying them was Lieutenant Mark Mallia AFM as their Officer Commanding.