You’ve written that you had an “instant connection” when you first picked up your Grancino violin. Is the spark still there?

It is very much still there! Oh my gosh, every time I pick up the instrument and do something as simple as tune it, I can hear that inner resonance, the depth of sound, the clarity and beauty of it, and it still thrills me today. It’s impossible not to marvel at the skill of Grancino in managing to create an instrument of such beauty that can still be played and enjoyed 342 years later! It is the instrument of my life. I will never part with it!

Madeleine Easton, her Grancino violin and Bach Akademie Australia at the Cell Block Theatre, 2023. Photo supplied

How do you describe your relationship? Is the Grancino your ‘other half’, your ‘partner-in-crime’?

It’s my life partner! Everyone says you just ‘know’ when you meet the right one. It was the weirdest experience picking up the violin, playing it for the first time, and experiencing a feeling of rightness, of joy deep down in my gut. It was how I had always wanted...