The past catches up with the present at Symphony Hall on Saturday when Roberto Ruisi plays a £1million-plus Stradivarius violin as he leads the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in a concert conducted by the CBSO’s recent principal guest conductor, Edward Gardner.
Roberto, now 18, was only 15 when he was appointed concertmaster of the NYO (the orchestra’s youngest ever), a position which was taken 66 years ago in 1948 by John Ludlow, the first to hold the job in the then newly-formed orchestra. And there the coincidences begin.
Both Roberto and John hail from Edgbaston. Both were educated at the same school, King Edward’s in Edgbaston, And both are students of the Royal College of Music in London (Roberto begins his studies there this autumn).
John Ludlow went on to become leader of the orchestras at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and of the English National Opera at London’s Coliseum. He bought his 1680 Stradivarius for £4,250 in the 1960s but for some years recently “it’s been having a little rest period,” he says.
Hearing of Roberto’s extraordinary prowess, John decided to loan it to him for the current NYO series of concerts, which culminates at the Proms on Sunday.
Roberto is ecstatic about this opportunity. He says: “I can find and do things with this Strad I couldn’t do with any other violin,” he enthuses.
