GG Mkrtchyan

Sona Mkrtchyan selects apricot timber in the orchard, reading grain and tone in the raw by what her master called the ear in the hands, and her instruments go to three national ensembles. She tunes each one by breath before it leaves. She has also made exactly one board, over a single winter, with points inlaid in two shades and a hinge she is still not satisfied with, and it is the only one she has ever played on. Several people have asked her to build them the same. She has refused all of them, politely, and says only that she does not have another season spare. The refusals are always gentle and none of them has ever been believed by the person asking.