12-year-old violin prodigy

receives a 300-year-old

violin

The violin was provided to Noa Wildschut by the Musical Instrument Fund, which had previously provided her with a Jacques Audinot bow. For Noa, who is regarded as the violin talent of the future, it is (just as it is for all other musicians) of the utmost importance that she plays an instrument that allows her to fully realize her great talent. In the nearly 300-year-old Grancino violin, the 12-year-old violinist has found her ideal partner in that regard.

The Musical Instrument Fund was established with the aim of providing professional musicians with high-quality musical instruments. In the quarter-century since its founding, the Musical Instrument Fund has already helped more than 1,750 musicians acquire a musical instrument. Janine Jansen, Liza Ferschtman, Sonja van Beek, Simone Lamsma, Quirine Viersen, Pieter Wispelwey, Jaap ter Linden, Lavinia Meijer, Ernst Reijseger, and Rick Stotijn play or have played an instrument from the Music Instrument Fund’s collection. The fund is a private foundation that receives no government subsidies. The Musical Instrument Fund currently loans instruments from its collection—which is valued at €25 million—to approximately 400 musicians. Measured by the number of professional musicians it supports, the Musical Instrument Fund is the largest musical instrument fund in the world.

Noa Wildschut is twelve years old. She began taking violin lessons at the age of four with Coosje Wijzenbeek. Since 2008, Noa has been a member of the Sweelinck Academy, the young talent program at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. She has been a member of the “Fancy Fiddlers” since she was five. At age seven, she made her debut in the Main Hall of the Concertgebouw. She has won several awards, including second place in the 2012 Concertgebouw Young Talent Award. She has performed with renowned musicians such as Janine Jansen, Paolo Giacometti, and Arthur and Lucas Jussen. Upcoming concerts include performances with pianist Menahem Pressler at the Concertgebouw and with Kremerata Baltica, Gidon Kremer’s chamber orchestra. She will also perform with the Residentie Orkest and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Noa has already appeared as a guest on *De Wereld Draait Door*. The NTR produced a documentary about Noa and will continue to follow her in the coming years for a series of documentaries.

The purchase of the violin for Noa was made possible by generous donations from the violin’s previous owner, Ms. Marianne Geugjes, and from a foundation that wishes to remain anonymous. The violin was meticulously restored in 1991 by The Hague-based violin maker Willem Bouman. It was his wish that the violin would eventually be donated to the Musical Instrument Fund for the benefit of future violin talents.