New fiddle, 300-year-old sound
Exact copy of a 1693 Stradivari violin made in Ottawa debuts tonight
By Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Gatineau violinist Christian Vachon’s new violin, a copy of one made by famed Italian violinmaker Antonio Stradivari in 1693. Vachon’s instrument was made in Ottawa by Guy Harrison.
Photograph by: Bruno Schlumbeger, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Christian Vachon grins as he gently holds up his new violin, a burnished, richly grained fiddle that he says comes as close as a new instrument probably could to the sound and look of the 300-year-old Italian violin of his dreams.
The varnished wood gleams as the violinist holds it up to the sunlight in his Gatineau home. He starts to play one of the tangos he’ll perform tonight at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival with the group Norteno in the violin’s debut, and a sumptuous sound fills the living room, from lusciously dark lower notes to bright, sweetly penetrating high notes.
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