My earliest memory of the violin is when I was five years old and I found one at our Paris home. My parents weren’t musicians, but they liked classical music.

I had no idea what it was. I just found it beautiful, aesthetically speaking, and wanted to try it. I turned out to be quite good at it, and from the age of eight or nine, I practised every day, including on weekends and holidays. I finished school at 3:30pm and did an hour and a half of violin, then my homework, then another hour and a half before sleep. In those three hours I spent at least one hour doing scales to build a strong foundation.

Matthieu Arama. Photo © Guy Davies

In those early days, the work was mainly technique. I did all my studies in France and went to the Paris Conservatoire, where I won first prize with unanimity of the jury as well as the Alumni’s Special Award.

At the same time, I developed a deep fascination with the old Russian school of violin playing and its exponents, including Jascha Heifetz, Leonid Kogan and David Oistrakh. After Paris, I went to...