In the early decades of the 20th century, Sydney saw a boom in classical music. In 1919, the Sunday Times boasted:

“Night after night, whatever the climate conditions, the concert halls of Sydney are well filled … so long as music lovers have the opportunity of hearing such pianists as Hutchens, Godfrey-Smith, Penn and Benjamin, singers with such fine natural voices as Cappelli, Smythe, Appleby and Goossens, and violinists such as Stahl and Verbrugghen, Monk and Carter, so long will the musical plane of Sydney remain on a high level.”

Although the Sydney of yesteryear had a thriving concert scene, the artists that built this musical landscape have largely been forgotten, as has their highly expressive and risk-taking playing style.

My research has sought to find out how three prominent violinists of this Sydney scene – Cyril Monk, Patrick Moore-MacMahon and Phyllis McDonald – actually sounded.

Cyril Monk, circa. 1893. Private collection. Reproduced with the kind permission of Victoria Monk

This has been challenging, as there is so little left to remember these musicians by. The lack of sound recordings from this era in Australia combined with the great social and cultural changes...