Bella Correia was practising the violin one day when neighbour John Ross appeared on her doorstep.

Mr Ross, a music lover, had often heard her playing as he walked his dog past her house.

“We had been introduced by my Menuhin music teacher, Alison Black,” Bella said.

Now he had something for her — a vintage violin that had once belonged to his father’s friend George Wingate.

Bella was thrilled to receive the instrument.

“The violin is probably 70 to 100 years old,” Bella said. “It is a copy of Maggini’s violin. I love it.”

There was just one problem; it sounded terrible. It had not been played in decades.

“When you don’t play an instrument for a long time it sounds almost muted or tinny,” Bella’s mother, Maricel Correia, said. “Someone not into classical music probably would not notice, but someone who listens to violins a lot definitely would hear it.”

Bella’s Menuhin music teacher, Alison Black, urged her to stick with the old violin.

“When you play it a lot, it restores the instrument,” Bella said. “She said if I kept playing it, it would eventually sound better than the one I had.”

First, though, it needed some repairs.

The Correias took it to a luthier — a person who makes or repairs stringed instruments — in Portugal last summer. He fixed the pegs, the bridge and the chin rest.

Bella started using it in her lessons and practice last September, playing it for an hour every day. It took several months before the violin found its voice.

“I went to the Ross house last Christmas to play Christmas carols for them, and Mr Ross said it had really opened up,” Bella said.

Today it sounds a lot better, but she believes it has not yet reached its full potential.

“It is getting there,” she said.

Bella used it to win the Concerto category of the Bermuda Philharmonic’s inaugural Young Artists Concerto and Composition Competition in January. Dylan Jeffrey, 15, won in the Composition category.

Bella picked a challenging piece to perform: Accolay’s Violin Concerto No 1 in A Minor.

“It is very fast,” she said. “There are a lot of very high passages which can sometimes be hard on the fingers. It also goes fast and slow, which means you have to almost switch personalities while you are playing.”

She practised the piece every day for weeks before the competition, but was still unsure whether she had done enough when the big day came.

Despite all her doubts, she came first in the Concerto category.

“I was really surprised when I won,” she said. “I thought I was going to come second.”

The prize was $500 and a solo in the Bermuda Philharmonic’s Rising Stars concert, performing the winning piece.

“I am excited about the concert, but also really nervous,” she admitted. “It will be my first time doing a solo with the philharmonic.”

It was not her first experience with the organisation.

“The Bermuda Philharmonic holds an annual scholarship and bursary for Bermuda music students,” Mrs Correia said. “Bella has won a scholarship every year since she started auditioning in 2021 at age 9.”

Her parents are fans of classical music. Her father, Walter, played it to her when she was in the womb.

“Classical music is very good for young kids, especially for brain development,” Mr Correia said.

When Bella was 3, she was fascinated by a Bach concert on television. She started to imitate the violin players, and asked for lessons.

After debating whether she was ready, her parents enrolled her in classes at a local music school. She did not like them.

“She only did it for a few months,” Mrs Correia said. “When she was 5, she went on to the wait list at the Menuhin Foundation.”

The foundation puts an emphasis on creativity and enjoyment. It does not enforce practice, instead aiming to create an environment that encourages children to want to learn and play independently.

“They were pretty full,” Mrs Correia said. “It took them a year to get back to us. She was 6 by then.”

By the time Mrs Correia got an e-mail from the Menuhin Foundation saying that they had space, she was unsure if she wanted to pursue it any more.

“I almost wrote back and said we did not want the place,” Mrs Correia remembered. “I asked Bella if she wanted to give it another try, and she said yes.”

Bella loved her Menuhin classes.

“They were fun,” she said.

Now Bella holds the first violin position in the Menuhin’s Vivace Quartet for youth.

Although the violin is her chosen instrument, she is also learning to play the piano.

As much as she loves music, she is looking in a different direction for her future career.

“I would like to become a real estate agent or an interior designer,” Bella said. “However, since I do enjoy the violin very much, I still want to play in the future.”

To get some experience performing in public, Bella plays the violin outside Queen Elizabeth Park on Queen Street, most Fridays at 1pm.

• The Bermuda Philharmonic’s Rising Stars concert will be held on March 16 at 7.30pm, and on March 17 at 4pm, at St John’s Church on St John’s Road, Pembroke. Tickets are $65 for adults and $35 for seniors and students aged 5 to 18, available atbermudaphilharmonic.org