Media Super has become the second largest investor in the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Instrument Fund, after the Australian Chamber Orchestra Pty Ltd. In a statement released today, the ACO said that Media Super – the $5.3 billion media and creative arts sector industry superannuation fund – has acquired 17% of the Instrument Fund for $1 million, and committed a further $1 million for the Instrument Fund’s next acquisition.

ACO Managing Director Richard Evans with Media Super CEO Graeme Russell and the Instrument Fund’s 1728/29 Stradivarius violin. Photograph © Christie Brewster

The ACO established the Instrument Fund in 2011 to enable patrons and investors to participate in the ownership of a bank of rare, historical instruments. A managed investment fund for wholesale clients only, its objective is to achieve long term capital gains by investing in high quality stringed instruments to be loaned to the ACO for use by its players.

The Instrument Fund currently holds three instruments, crafted in Italy during the “Golden Age” of instrument making. The first acquisition in 2011 was a 1728/29 Stradivarius violin – Australia’s only Stradivarius violin. Made when Antonio Stravidari was 80, the violin has been described as...