The cello is a member of the violin family…a very big member of the violin family. Although not the biggest, it is the instrument that is the reason for celebrated classical cellist Natalie Clein”s  biggest pet hate, “When I take my cello on a plane, people always ask why I don’t play the flute.” The Brit Award winner isn’t a flautist, she plays one of the biggest members of the violin family and plays it exceptionally well…’mesmerisingly’ and ‘passionately’ well according to The Times. The said cello is a ‘Simpson’ Guadagnini, made in 1777 by the ‘Leonardo Da Vinci  of cello-makers, JB Guadagnini. “I own a small part of it along with 20 other people. It’s like a child, you never really own it, you’re it’s guardian for a while.” she said in a Guardian interview. Speaking of a child, Natalie’s daughter was born last year, so now the large amount of travel makes it more interesting on planes, ‘baby in the front,cello on the back.’

I drew this sketch and left it at the Cadogan Hall in London, where Natalie was performing her latest recording, Saint-Saens: Cello Concerto No 1 with the St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra earlier this year.