Renowned Canberra-born violinist Kristian Winthers joins the Signum Saxophone Quartet on their debut Australian tour with Musica Viva Australia. The classical music experience stops at Llewelyn Hall on 17 November. CW’s Jessica Cordwell caught up with Kristian mid tour.

What led you to start playing the violin?

Both of my parents are musicians, they are pianists. There are a lot of pianists in my family, I’m the only violinist.

As a kid you say you want to do something, but you don’t think much of it and it sort of snowballs as you get older. I was four. Nowadays, most top instrumentalists tend to start at an early age. It’s like chess or tennis, anything like that. People who are at the top of the game have to start young.

You’ll be performing Kurt Weill’s Violin Concerto, which is renowned for being difficult. How are you finding it?

It’s great! It is a rarely performed piece so that is the more difficult aspect. There are difficult pieces that are well known; you can see people’s versions and how they approached them. When there are fewer performances, that is the challenge, solving all these problems yourself. It’s been a great challenge.

Do you have a favourite piece to play?

Generally, my favourite to play is whatever I am doing at the moment; you become attached to the process, the amount of work that has gone into it. The feeling you have, the relationship you have with the piece you are playing.

I enjoy novelty, so I enjoy something new rather than something I have played before.

Have you any plans while you are back in Canberra?

I always have such a brief visit to every city.

The coffee culture in Canberra has become really amazing in the last 10 years; I will be heading to one of my favourite coffee shops and catching up with some friends.

I think I am returning to my old high school to give a class or a talk, so that will be interesting going back to Marist College.

What’s next for you?

I am really just focusing on this tour, it is a really big tour.

I’m playing at Ukaria in the Adelaide Hills then I am playing in Finland in January; I’m playing a rarely played concerto by Respighi.

Catch Kristian Winthers and the Signum Saxophone Quartet at Llewellyn Hall, 17 November 7pm; musicaviva.com.au