Four instruments by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini have been brought together through a philanthropic project in Australia. All four instruments have been loaned to the Australian Quartet for its current national tour.
The Ngeringa Farm Arts Foundation has spent AUD4m (£2.55m) acquiring three instruments by the Italian master, and is currently raising funds to purchase a fourth. So far, foundation director Ulrike Klein has acquired two instruments made during Guadagnini's Turin period: a 1784 violin and a 1783 viola. It also has a violin dating from 1748, when the maker was working in Piacenza. The foundation hopes to add another Piacenza instrument - a 1743 cello - which is currently owned by philanthropist Maria Myers.
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