Leonhard Baumgartner
(c) Karol Sokolowski
The 17-year-old Austrian violinist Leonhard Baumgartner has been loaned the 1683 ‘ex Petherick’ Stradivari violin by the Stretton Society which was founded in 2021 by Stephan Jansen, Maximillian von Schierstädt and Johannes Freiherr von Salmuth.
The instrument was owned by George Hart, until in 1900 it was acquired by Horace Petherick, a writer, illustrator and violin expert. Apparently, the violin has not been played for 70 years.
Born in Vienna in 2007, Baumgartner is a laureate of several international competitions, including the ICMA Discovery Award in 2022.
