Adelaide philanthropist Diana Ramsay gives $510,000 towards Australian String Quartet’s Guadagnini cello
ADELAIDE arts benefactor Diana Ramsay has given $510,000 to the fundraising drive for the Guadagnini cello on loan to the Australian String Quartet.
OUTSTANDING Adelaide arts benefactor Diana Ramsay has given $510,000 to the fundraising drive for the Guadagnini cello on loan to the Australian String Quartet.
Mrs Ramsay is one of the Art Gallery of South Australia’s biggest donors but she also gives generously to the performing arts.
The cello was bought for $1.83 million by another Adelaide philanthropist Ulrike Klein, who committed $640,000 towards the purchase price and is raising the balance through private donations.
When she reaches her target Klein will transfer the cello to the Ngeringa Arts foundation, which she established, to be held in perpetuity for Australia’s most outstanding string quartet.
Mrs Ramsay’s contribution will be made over three years through the James and Diana Ramsay Foundation, established by Mrs Ramsay in memory of her late husband.
Ngeringa Arts general manager Alison Beare said donations had been received from several individuals and families but Mrs Ramsay’s was the biggest to date for the cello.
There is $593,000 left to raise.
“Ulrike always said this project is much bigger than her,” Ms Beare said.
“This shows there are others in the community who feel that leaving this kind of legacy is really important for future generations.”
The project started in 2009 when Klein and Melbourne philanthropist Maria Myers embarked on a joint enterprise to acquire a quartet of rare string instruments handmade by master Italian luthier Giovanni Battista Guadagnini between c1743 and 1784, to loan as a set to the ASQ and, potentially, other Australian quartets in the future.
Klein bought three Guadagninis - a violin, viola and cello - and pledged 50 per cent of their overall $4 million price tag.
Myers bought a violin presently on loan to ASQ leader Kristian Winther.
Ms Beare said the cello, on loan to ASQ cellist Sharon Draper, was the most valuable of the instruments purchased by Klein.
Draper said the ASQ was “lucky to have the privilege of playing on a set of Guadagnini instruments”.
“The more we are enriched by these instruments and learn from them, the more we hope our Australian audiences will be enriched by our performances,” she said.
Fundraising for the $1.3 million viola was finalised late last year and it has moved into the foundation.
Once the cello is secured fundraising will start for the Klein violin.
A LIFE OF GIVING
ADELAIDE performing and visual arts patron Diana Ramsay turned 88 on Wednesday.
Mrs Ramsay is one of Australia’s major arts benefactors. Her generous donations, with her late husband James, who died in 1996, run into millions of dollars.
They are long-time benefactors of the Art Gallery of SA.
In 2011, the estimated value of works gifted to AGSA by Diana and James Ramsay was $10 million. Gallery IV is named for them.
They are among the most generous private donors to the Australian Ballet, State Opera, Adelaide Festival, Australian String Quartet and Adelaide Youth Orchestra.