When he was three Conan Doyle and his family moved to Liberton Bank House, now Dunedin School, from Picardy Place where he was born. There used to be a two hundred year old sycamore tree in the grounds but no more, for it has been felled. Edinburgh’s Steve Burnett is a violin maker. He has skillfully made two violins, a viola and a cello with the tree’s timber.
We are to have an opportunity to watch and hear the four instruments, the Conan Doyle Quartet, in a concert in the Usher Hall on Saturday 26 November 2011 at 7.30pm.
The concert recognises the United Nations’ International Year of Forests - happening this year - and is also part of the St Andrew’s Day celebrations. It is being endorsed by the World Wildlife Fund, TreeAid, Survival International and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
In the photograph above Ani Batikian is playing the Sherlock Violin, made in 2009 by Steve Burnett to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth in Edinburgh. She and the St Patrick’s Baroque Ensemble play the four instruments at the concert.