The Anders Sveaas Charitable Trust (ASAF) has loaned two instruments to members of the Danish Quartet. Violinist Frederik Øland has received an instrument made by Domenico Montagnana in Venice around 1730–40, while cellist Fredrik Sjölin has been loaned a 1687 cello by Francesco Rugeri, as well as a Sartory cello bow.
Speaking about the Rugeri cello, Sjölin commented: ‘Someone once said that instruments tend to sound the way they look. In this case, I think the colour of this cello – sort of dark, intense, almost chocolatey – is also something you can actually hear. It’s a very special thing when you feel you connect to an instrument; I think all musicians and singers, of all genres, are trying to find their sound, and then to find a tool that can convey their voice is, to me, best described as magic.’
Øland said of the Montagnana violin: ‘It’s something you can keep digging in and uncovering new ways to play – new colours, new sounds – and that’s something that inspires my playing. Playing these old instruments is like getting a piece of history in your hands.’
ASAF loans out such instruments to Norwegian and Nordic musicians as part of its work supporting public and charitable causes, from providing scholarships to funding festivals and concert series. Other recent recipients of instruments include violinist Pekka Kuusisto, violinist Alma Kraggerud and cellist Birgitta Oftestad. The trust has one of the world’s largest collections of instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, and also owns instruments by Guadagnini and Amati.
The Danish Quartet played its first concert in 2002 and is known for its performances of classical music as well as its own renditions of traditional Nordic folk music. In 2025 it received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize.
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