Pitch perfect

This year's NCPA May Festival will see some of the world's most talented violinists take to the stage. Chen Nan reports.

As he slowly lifts two valuable violins from their cases, a 1734 violin made by Giuseppe Guarneri and a 1699 violin made by Antonio Stradivari, both famous Italian violin makers, Chinese violinist Lyu Siqing tries to avoid touching the glossily varnished wood on the bodies of the musical instruments.

"The lines on the wood are so beautiful, aren't they?" asks Lyu, turning the violins over.