The Sophie Rosa Violin Trust
We are seeking to establish a Trust to purchase a fine instrument for the violinist Sophie Rosa.
Contributors will form a syndicate to purchase the violin through a bare trust, and the instrument will
be given to Sophie for her exclusive use. The intention is that Sophie will, over the 20-year life of the
Trust, buy the instrument back from the contributors, paying the current market price for shares in the
violin. Contributors therefore gain from any escalation in the value of the instrument, although the
primary motive of the Trust is of course to provide Sophie with a violin that will allow her to develop an
international career.
Sophie Rosa
Sophie Rosa is rapidly emerging as one of the UK's
most exciting young violinists. In 2012 Sophie won
the Second Prize and Audience Prize at the
prestigious
Manchester
International
Violin
Competition, where she performed with the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and was recorded
for broadcast on Classic FM. Sophie now frequently
performs across the UK as a recitalist in venues such
as the Wigmore, Royal Festival and Bridgewater
Halls. Following her passion for chamber music
Sophie also performs regularly with her piano trio,
and with them has given recitals at the Purcell Room
and St James’s, Piccadilly. In 2011 the trio won the MMSF Charles Henderson Ensemble Award.
Sophie has performed regularly throughout the UK and internationally as a soloist and chamber
musician from a very young age. An early highlight was a solo performance for HRH Princess Margaret
at the Grange School, Hartford, when she was just seven years old. Sophie went on to study the violin
with professor Wen Zhou Li at Chetham's School of Music and at the Royal Northern College of Music
for her BMus and MMus. She was subsequently awarded a place on the RNCM International Artist
Diploma in Solo Performance, designed for a small number of fine musicians identified as having the
potential to progress to an international solo career. During her time at the RNCM Sophie received
several prizes, including the Gold Medal Award in 2010. Sophie recently gave her debut performance
with the Manchester Camerata at the RNCM with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.
Engagements in 2013 include recitals at the Bridgewater Hall, RNCM and St. James’s Piccadilly, and
concertos with the Wilmslow Symphony and Chester Philharmonic Orchestras.
Nigel Brown’s Instrument Trusts
Nigel Brown OBE has pioneered the use of Syndicated Trusts to fund the purchase of fine string
instruments. Over the last 26 years Nigel has helped many professional string players, including Nigel
Kennedy, Steven Isserlis, and Lawrence Power, to acquire world-class instruments. Instruments
purchased through the schemes include the Stradivari violins ‘La Cathedrale’ and the ‘Wooldridge’, a
1777 Guadagnini cello ‘The Simpson’, the ‘Lafont’ del Gesù violin, and other fine string instruments by
Guarneri, Gofriller, Montagnana, Pressenda, Brenzi, brothers Amati, Gigli, Rugeri and Ceruti.
The Market for String Instruments
The violin market has appreciated in value over many years, with annual returns on the best
instruments averaging 8-12%. The demand pressure of this market can be readily appreciated when it is
realised that there are approximately 600 Stradivari instruments surviving and probably fewer than 100
by Guarneri del Gesù. Nigel Brown's instrument trusts provide a limited sample of returns over a
variety of holding periods, in the main since 1991 and ending in 2000 or after. In all cases the return over
the total holding period for a particular instrument has been positive. For the 13 instruments with a
minimum of 3 years' track record during the period 1991 - 2009, the average internal rate of return was
around 6% in nominal terms, with a range of 3% - 11% per annum. There is no indication that the recent
financial market turmoil has affected the market for fine stringed instruments.
If you wish to receive further information about the Sophie Rosa Violin Trust, please contact Emily
Ashton (Instrument Schemes Manager) on 07792 667284, at instrument.schemes@gmail.com or write
to The Stradivari Trust, 2 Pretoria Road, Cambridge CB4 1EU.
www.stradivaritrust.org