Long-term supporter of the orchestra Vicki Olsson buys a highly-prized 1757 Guadagnini instrument for the SSO.

Long-term supporter of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Vicki Olsson has made many generous donations to the orchestra over the years, but her most recent gift is particularly special: a rare, 258-year-old violin made by revered Italian luthier Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. The highly-prized instrument, purchased by Olsson, is now on long-term loan to the orchestra.

SSO concertmaster Andrew Haveron was tasked with finding the perfect instrument, and tried over 30 rare violins during an intensive search in the UK. However ultimately it would be the very first instrument Haveron played on his British expedition which would find its new home Down Under. “I arrived at the showroom of the first dealer I’d contacted and he had six instruments on the table for me to try. I picked up the first one, played one note and just thought: Wow!” Haveron said. “Finding out the histories of all these instruments, where they’d been, who’d played them in the past, was an incredibly interesting process. But in the end I just kept coming back to that first instrument. I had started to develop a real connection with this violin in the sense that it felt as if I already knew it and it already knew me, and it revealed things in my playing of which I didn’t know I was capable.”

Sydney audiences will have the opportunity to hear Haveron play the valuable 1757 instrument next week when he performs the Walton Violin Concerto under the baton of SSO chief conductor David Robertson.

For tickets to next week’s performance visit the SSO website.