A HISTORIC violin with links to Robert Burns will tour across America this month as part of the Bard’s birthday celebrations.

The 18th century instrument is part of the National Trust for Scotland’s supreme Burns collection of more than 5000 artefacts which are protected by the conservation charity at its Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway.

The violin is pictured here ahead of its departure with Murray Pittock, National Trust for Scotland Trustee and David Hopes, the National Trust for Scotland’s head of collections and interiors at the Ayrshire museum which hosted the Centre for Robert Burns Studies Conference on Saturday, January 11.

The tour will begin in New York. From there it will travel to Chicago for a collaboration with internationally-renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine before moving to Boston for a series of Burns Night events. It then heads to the west coast to LA. Final stops are Washington DC, and then back to Chicago where the instrument will be performed in front of residents of the Caledonian Home.