Image: Rebecca Chan playing for the ACO, photo by Jamie Williams
The remarkable instrument recently acquired by the Orchestra is one of only 260 surviving violins crafted by Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, known as filius Andreae in 1714,one of the legendary Guarneri family of violin makers. Guarneri instruments have been played by masters including Heifetz, Paganini and Menuhin.
Filius Andreae, as the name suggests, was the son of Andrea Guarneri, the original Guarneri violin maker – or luthier. Two of his sons also became luthiers and it likely that his son Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, known as del Gesù, assisted with making the ACO’s violin.
