Peter Sheppard Skærved on the ‘Pierre Rode’ Stradivari

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In this short clip from a forthcoming film, British violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved examines the form and decoration of the 1722 ‘Pierre Rode’ Stradivari violin. One of the treasures of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum collection, the ‘Rode’ is among Stradivari’s few surviving decorated instruments and is in an excellent state of preservation.  The music is Telemann’s B minor Fantasie, performed by Sheppard Skærved on this violin.

The film is one a series made as part of Sheppard Skærved’s ‘Knowledge Exchange Violin 2022-23’ project, working with institutions including the Metropolitan Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Schubert Club Museum and more. The project ranges from films on great instruments to reconstructions of salon performances given by Viotti’s associates in revolutionary Paris and podcasts on Ysaÿe, Ole Bull and Elgar’s letters in a museum in St Paul Minnesota.