In March 2020, as each hour brought updates on the spread of COVID-19 and the looming possibility of lockdown, a group of visitors with rather unfortunate timing appeared in Los Angeles. Dozens of violins from Israel, fresh off a run of concerts in San Francisco, had arrived in town for a series of events—events that were just about to be cancelled. So, like many musicians themselves, these instruments had to spend the next several months in quarantine, emerging only recently for filmed performances before they were sent back home to…
