AFTER the headlines in the United States over the FBI helping to recover a stolen 300-year old Stradivarius worth $5 million, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma no doubt will be keeping her strings safe in Harrogate.

Simone is to play her Mlynarski Stradivarius – dating from 1718 and on loan from an anonymous benefactor – at the Harrogate International Festivals Sunday Series this weekend at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.

She began learning the violin at the age of five and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating to become the first professional musician in her family, despite her parents having been great music lovers.

“My greatest inspiration, even as a child, was always the music itself,” Simone says.

“Classical music moved me in a way no other music could from a very early age, and after seeing a young boy play the violin on TV when I was two years old, I was sure that I wanted to be a violinist.”

Latterly, she has been inspiring the next generation in her homeland by being a judge on a classical version of The X Factor.

“It was a programme where, through a process of auditions and masterclasses, we formed an orchestra of 65 amateur musicians, resulting in a live concert from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam," she says.

"This was really an initiative to introduce classical music to a large audience, and to portray the love that amateur musicians have for music. The seriousness of the show and the actual music being the centre of attention was a format I was happy to support.”

Simone had moved to Britain aged 11 to study violin.

"For me, Britain is like a second home, as I’ve lived in London for ten years, so it is somewhere I always feel very at home; audiences are often warm, knowledgeable and sophisticated,” she says.

She does not believe, however, that classical music is an elitist genre.

"I feel it is for everyone, young and old. I believe in trying to reach a younger audience; it is key to introduce classical music to children from a very early age," she says.

"I am convinced that many children will be grabbed by it, and when classical music starts becoming a part of their upbringing, just as other kinds of music are, it will be a more natural process for young people to attend concerts, enjoy live music making, and experience the great value of it, and ultimately create a larger audience for classical music.”

Countless studies suggest classical music, and learning the violin in particular, can help children overcome psychological problems such as anxiety, more so than medication. Are musicians more emotionally stable, Simone?

“I don’t know whether they are generally happier and more fulfilled; I hope so," she says. "I am definitely convinced of the great strength of classical music though. It can work in a healing way; it can bring people together; it can move; it can take people into a different world; it is something of such depth that it enriches the life of any person."

Simone promises an emotional concert on Sunday morning when she will be accompanied by American pianist Robert Kulek at 11am.

"We will be bringing a varied programme of sonatas by Mendelssohn, Schumann and Janacek," she says.

"I hope it will indeed be an emotional journey and that the audience will be moved and energised by it. I do find audiences differ across the world and also can differ within countries, but one thing that is always the same is that music is a language that we all understand and is always able to bring us together. I just hope to share these masterworks with as many people as possible."

Tickets can be booked on 01423 562 303 or on harrogateinternationalfestivals.com