Maria's violin is like her third arm

Written by Dermot on Wednesday, 19 August 2009

"I’ve had my violin since I was 8 years old. Apparently it’s an 18th century German copy of a Duke violin. It’s a student violin model and, according to Bonham’s, nothing very special and not worth putting into an auction.

"When I started playing my great aunt found it in her attic and we had it restored. It had been back two weeks when I was due to play it for the first time at a school concert. I dropped it and the neck came away from the body. There was no solo for me then and I just cried, cried and cried. Ever since then it’s felt like a third arm and I couldn’t be without it."