Scholarship Winners

“A long-forgotten violin, a 300-year-old cello: The strange tales behind 5 rare musical instruments on Toronto stages.” by Joshua Chong, Toronto Star

Tiffany Yeung, 2024 WMCT Scholarship Winner, performing on a violin made by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in 1869.

“From a family knick-knack that turned out to be a valuable French violin, to a rare, five-string baroque cello, these instruments have stories to share. 

Every musical instrument has a unique story, each with a distinct personality. Some, centuries old, have been passed down numerous times, from one generation of musicians to the next. Here are the weird and absurd stories behind five instruments that can be heard on stages across Toronto. 

For years, this violin sat on Greg Cook’s bookshelf. He had inherited it after his maternal grandfather died. But no one in his family thought it was anything more than a knick-knack. 

It wasn’t until the instrument’s neck broke, and Cook brought it in for repairs that he and his family discovered that the family heirloom wasn’t just any old violin; it was one crafted by the prolific French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume at the peak of his career in 1869. 

In 2009, following this discovery, Cook and his wife donated the instrument to the Canada Council for the Arts. It’s currently on a three-year loan to Tiffany Yeung, a student at the Royal Conservatory of Music who won the violin through the council’s Musical Instrument Bank competition.  The violin’s two-piece back is made of maple, while its front is crafted of spruce, finished with a reddish-brown varnish. “It’s a very warm, rich and very sweet sound,” described Yeung. “And paired with this (Vuillaume model) bow, the violin is just incredibly smooth.”’

From the article by Joshua Chong, May 12, 2025