The Violin
When Madeline first met the fiddle Madeline Adkins
A year ago I got a phone call from our friend, the award-winning luthier John Young, and he told me the most interesting story. But first there’s the story of how John came into our lives…. About twenty years ago, Jacques heard Elmar Oliveira playing a concerto at Meadowmount. Loving the sound of Elmar’s violin, Jacques asked him its origin. That’s when he learned the name John Young. Soon thereafter, Jacques commissioned a violin for himself.
John writes;
“A funny thing happened during the making process. I was behind as usual. One night around 4 am while listening to my local classical music radio station , I heard a beautiful performance, at the end the DJ said it was Jacques performing the piece.I knew I had to get moving and finish the violin….”
Jacques played this violin as much as he played his other one. Today, both students and colleagues of Jacques’ play John’s instruments.
So, to late 2016 in Salt Lake City…. Into John's violin shop wandered the new Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, Madeline Adkins. As she and John chatted, he learned that along with leaving her associate CM job in Baltimore, she was soon having to relinquish the Guadagnini that had been loaned to her there. John knew that I had a Guadagnini looking for a new partner. Though instantly formulating the possibility of a connection, he bided his time… In the spring of 2017 John put Madeline and me and the violin together.