10thirtysix

(classical music) Hi. My name is Ilana Setapen. I am the acting concert master of the Milwaukee symphony. And this is my 12th season here. (classical music) String players. And I would argue with violinists in particular. Oftentimes can't afford the instruments that we play. Yeah, I would say probably a majority of violin soloists around the world. As well as many orchestral musicians. Other concert masters are borrowing violence from either collectors or you know, places that are loaning out instruments so that people can play them. Cause they're often multimillion dollar instruments that are 400 years old. And like any other piece of old valuable artwork, we can't afford those. So I was lucky enough to play on borrowed instruments for quite a while. It both in my school, school days and in my professional career. And actually this last year is the first time that I've been playing on an instrument that I actually own. Which is kind of freeing in a lot of ways. And I did go through a process trying to find this instrument. And like many other violins. It's quite old. It's over 300 years old. But it's not made by one of the top Italian makers that you've probably heard of. Like Stradivarius, del Ges, Almati. So this is by a Dutch maker. So it was somewhat in my price range. When I was looking for an instrument. And I've always personally gravitated towards a more, a more old sound. There are plenty of beautiful modern instruments that are being made. But this was the one that sort of, I connected with. (classical music) It's definitely a big process for string players to find that combination of age and the sound that you want. And then there's the bow. Which is a completely, they don't come together. You have to, you have to search for the bow separately. (classical music) I've actually played on this bow since I was about 12. It's always just worked really well for me. And I got lucky. But you can go through a similar process looking for a bow that matches your violin and yourself. So there's a lot of variables. (classical music)