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Ben’s Violin
In 2002 Ben was invited to play the Mozart
violin concerto in C Major at a Mozart Festival in Istanbul, Turkey.
Ben was just 12 years old and playing a fine 7/8th size
violin kindly loaned to him by the violin dealers J & A Beare of London.
The Istanbul concert precipitated a search for a full size
violin with powerful enough sound to project above the orchestra and fill the
vast auditorium with an audience of nearly 1,000 in Turkey.
With the wonderfully generous assistance of the Todd family in New Zealand, Ben was able to borrow an exquisite
French violin made by the French maker, Jean Baptiste Vuillaume.
Vuillaume was one of the most
outstanding violin makers of his time.
He grew up in France in the Vosges mountain village of Mirecourt and moved to Paris
where he would learn his trade and art of violin making.
Ben’s violin was completed
around 1860.
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