A jolly good cello

Guy Johnston has played many fabulous instruments – but none compares to his 300-year-old Stradivari which, he tells Michael White, challenges him every day.

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I'm in Cremona in what seems to be a shop - and indeed was a shop until not long ago, selling electrical appliances. But now it serves a higher purpose, lovingly restored to how it may have been during the 18th century when Antonio Stradivari lived here, worked here and made cellos like the one that's just now sitting on a workshop bench. Being examined by a group of student luthiers who gather round it with the reverence of shepherds round the Baby Jesus in a Christmas grotto.

It's the so-called 'Segelman ex Hart' – Strads usually have names – from 1692. And listening with interest to the luthiers' comments is Guy Johnston: celebrated cellist and the instrument's current custodian.

He's brought his 'Segelman ex Hart' from England to the place where it was born 300 years ago, on a symbolic trip. A sort of pilgrimage. Aside from taking it to Casa Stradivari, he is giving concerts with it in Cremona's Museo del Violino and the chic Palazzo Stauffer: a foundation that supports the study of stringed instruments and functions as a private academy.

The concerts – which are shared with pianist Melvyn Tan and the Carducci Quartet – are attended by a group of friends/supporters/ patrons who will, it's hoped, support his project to record John Tavener's The Protecting Veil this autumn. In the old days, record companies found the money for such things, but times have changed: it's down to the performers now to raise the cash. And The Protecting Veil, with orchestra, will be expensive. Around £40,000.