On her Stradivarius, she played one of the most famous concertos in the classical repertoire, a masterpiece written by a composer deemed "degenerate" by the Nazi regime: Felix Mendelssohn.

There’s a deferential hush surrounding Melbourne-based master violin-maker Rainer Beilharz as he carefully removes the bottom end block, bridge, strings and tailpiece of a 1717 Stradivarius violin. He ...