Barbera Drion
donates her time
'I heard on the radio about the emergency aid campaign "Doorspelen" from the Netherlands Musical Instrument Foundation. They were looking for instruments for Ukrainian refugee musicians. I thought it would be a wonderful idea to give my cello a new purpose, 'cause I had sadly not played on it for years.'
Once on the foundation’s website, I came across a vacancy: editing biographies of instrument makers. I had always been interested in language and music, and after ending my career as a physiotherapist, I wanted to tap into something new within myself. So I applied. To my delight, I was accepted, and I've been doing this work for a year now. It's fantastic!
‘“It feelslike one bigfamily”’
‘I add the finishing touches to the biographies written by Jan Boekhout and I add images to accompany them. Sometimes this requires quite a bit of searching. Many violin makers lived centuries ago, so there aren't any photos. I try to solve that problem creatively, like recently with the 18th-century violin maker Giovanni Celoniato. I eventually found two paintings from that period by people mentioned in his biography. And the Musée de la Musique in Paris turned out to still have a pochette (a miniature violin) by Celoniato in its collection. There was a photo of it, which the museum allowed us to use.
That way, my knowledge and contacts grow. What I also really enjoy here are the colleagues. Everyone is genuinely interested: in the donors, the musical talents, and in each other. It feels like one big family.’
Check out the biographies