00:00Ready, Conor?
00:01♪♪♪
00:15Hello, Conor.
00:16Hi, hello.
00:17That sounded absolutely gorgeous.
00:19So you're a Shropshire lad?
00:21Yes, yeah.
00:22And we're here at St Chad Church in Shrewsbury,
00:24and this is almost like a soundcheck for yourself.
00:26Just fill us in on what's coming up.
00:28Well, we have a really exciting concert
00:30on the 16th of November.
00:32It's a really exciting collaboration
00:34between my ensemble, Knoxford,
00:36and the Phoenix Singers of Shrewsbury,
00:38who have this new amazing conductor,
00:40David Thomas.
00:41Yeah.
00:42So what can people expect on the evening,
00:44and what music?
00:45Well, we have a really muscular programme
00:47comprised by David,
00:49of Handel's Dixit Dominus, Vivaldi's Gloria,
00:51Bach's Lobet den Hahn,
00:53and also a concerto for violin and oboe,
00:55also by Bach.
00:56And have you played in this church before?
00:58I've played in this church,
01:00and a few other churches in Shrewsbury,
01:02especially my youth,
01:03when I was part of the Shrewsbury Music Service.
01:05Yeah.
01:06And all the youth orchestras,
01:07which was really fun.
01:08So it's really nice to come back
01:09and perform in my hometown.
01:11And what about the acoustics?
01:13I mean, to me it's sounding amazing.
01:15As a player, what are you thinking?
01:17Is this cylindrical shape helping?
01:19Yeah, this acoustic is fantastic.
01:21I think this church is one of very few,
01:23maybe four or five Georgian churches
01:25in the UK with this circular shape,
01:27which is fantastic for acoustics.
01:29It was built so priests, vicars could all speak,
01:32and everyone in this sort of amphitheatre
01:34could hear every word.
01:35So for music, it's perfect.
01:37Fantastic.
01:38Well, wish you all the best with that concert.
01:40Thanks very much.
01:47It's a rather special violin, isn't it, this one?
01:49Just show us what's kind of cool about it.
01:52Yeah, so this is quite a lovely violin
01:54made by Alessandro Galliano
01:56in about 1695 in Naples,
01:59who we believe is probably a student
02:01of both the Amati family and Stradivarius.
02:04Yeah.
02:05And this particular violin
02:06has this beautiful, ornate purfling on the back.
02:11And we're not sure why it's there,
02:12but it's there.
02:14He was quite an interesting maker,
02:15and he didn't have standardised instruments,
02:17so it's quite special to have.
02:19Now, I didn't realise when I first saw that,
02:21but that's actually inlaid, wasn't it?
02:23The work and the craftsmanship.
02:25Yeah, it's quite impressive,
02:27especially for the 17th century.
02:29It's three pieces of wood, ebony, maple, ebony,
02:32or other tropical woods.
02:34And, you know, it would have had to have been steamed
02:37and then carved in and placed in and glued in.
02:39So even this part alone would have taken a long time.
02:42Are there still people making violins in the world today
02:46that could replicate that kind of quality, do you think?
02:49I think, well, one of the special things
02:51about violins and string instruments
02:53is that they are never two the same.
02:55So even from the same maker,
02:56they will never sound or feel the same,
02:58which is quite special.
02:59And I do believe that we have really good makers today.
03:01I think we're in a particularly special period of new makers,
03:04so it's quite exciting.
03:05Is there any makers or many makers in Shropshire at all?
03:08We actually have a really lovely violin shop in Shrewsbury,
03:12which is Julian Beatty's Violin Shop.
03:14And we have another maker who I am yet to meet
03:18somewhere else in Shropshire,
03:19I think towards Bridge North.
03:21And there used to be a violin shop in Frankwell,
03:24which I did my work experience at, called Forte Strings,
03:27which is now a tattoo parlour.
03:28Yeah.
03:29Yeah, it's a good place for strings.
03:31Great stuff. Thank you, Carter.
Comments