The instrument will be played by ACO principal viola Stefanie Farrands
The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) has acquired a 1610 viola made in Brescia, Italy, by Giovanni Paolo Maggini. The instrument will be played by the orchestra’s principal viola Stefanie Farrands.
According to Farrands, who has been in post since 2020, the instrument was discovered in New York, ‘sitting among an array of many other violas. It was number five. And the second I picked it up – this is after several hours of critiquing and trialling and experimenting, and opening your ears to the character of every single instrument – number five resonated on my collarbone. And I was just overwhelmed with emotion.’
The instrument is a tenor viola, and is believed to be the only surviving example of its kind. It is the first viola to be purchased by the ACO’s Instrument Fund, and cost more than $3 million. The fund sold a 1714 Guarneri in order to pay for the Maggini. The fund has also acquired a 1728–29 Stradivari violin played by Satu Vänskä, a 1590 Brothers Amati violin played by Ilya Isakovich, and a 1616 Brothers Amati cello played by Timo-Veikko Valve.
The Maggini viola was once owned by British violinist Henry Holmes, and passed through the hands of dealers W. E. Hill & Sons and the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company. It was also part of the collection of US connoisseur John T. Roberts.
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