Joining Forces
with the Oskar Back
Study Fund Foundation
The Musical Instrument Fund and the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation have joined forces with the aim of creating a single point of contact in the Netherlands for the loan of musical instruments. This provides clarity for musicians and music students looking for an instrument, as well as for owners who want to lend their instruments, regarding who they should contact.
A large portion of the violins owned by the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation will be transferred to the Musical Instrument Fund. These instruments will continue to be known as the Oskar Back Collection. Many instruments that had been on loan to the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation will also be managed by the Musical Instrument Fund. In the future, the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation will focus entirely on organizing the biennial National Violin Competition. The Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation and the Musical Instrument Fund are particularly grateful to the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund for its contribution toward the costs of appraisals and repairs of the transferred instruments.
In 1963, the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation received two violins, two bows, and two violin cases on loan from Oskar Back’s estate, with the intention of “lending these in turn to eligible conservatory students.” This marked the beginning of the Foundation’s Loan Fund. Many loans followed, including a few exceptional ones. For example, Her Majesty Queen Juliana made a Van der Seyde Baroque violin available on loan as an additional prize for the 7th National Violin Competition. In addition, the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation has organized the National Violin Competition since 1967.
Founded in 1988, the Musical Instrument Fund aims to lend instruments to gifted musicians and music students so that they can fully develop their talent. Currently, more than 400 musicians—mostly young people—play an instrument from the Music Instrument Fund. The fund’s collection of instruments is thus one of the largest in Western Europe. Each year, around 100 musicians apply to the fund to borrow an instrument.
His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands is the patron of both the Musical Instrument Fund and the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation.