I heard this on the radio yesterday. The way they described it, this guy was a kid…like 13 or something, not an adult. It was also described as a trip and fall forward with the player landing on the instrument.
I found out after reading today that the Axe was in it’s case when:
“I was all packed up and ready to go when I slipped,” Garrett told the Evening Standard. “People said it was as if I’d trodden on a banana skin. I fell down a flight of steps and on to the case. When I opened it, the violin was in pieces. I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t get up. I didn’t even know if I was hurt – I didn’t care. I’ve had that violin for eight years. It was like losing a friend.”
The nearly 300 year old instrument is facing a $118,000 restoration. A second violin (Strad) is being flown in from Milan to replace it for an upcoming concert. It comes complete with 3 body guards.
Read more here
Strads have always interested me even though I’ve never seen or heard one in person. At last I read, fewer than 700 remain intact…
Filed under: Oops, Stradivarius, Violin
This story is my cousins daughter. Sort of rings a bell.
From CNN:
IN: We’ve got an update now on a story we told you about yesterday. Sweet music for a broken-hearted violinist. 20-year-old Lindsay Deutsch has the violin back after reporting it stolen. It’s an $850,000 instrument made in the 18th century. A man who reported finding it in an alley turned it into police. A very sad Lindsay Deutsch yesterday is in a much better mood today. There she is.
LINDSAY DEUTSCH, VIOLINIST: For sure.
LIN: A big smile on her face. Lindsay. We didn’t have any details about this man in the alleyway. I mean, tell us more about it. How did he come across it? Do you think he was the one who took it?
DEUTSCH: Well, what the police are saying was that he was walking his dog and he was very close to the store that it was stolen from and he saw the violin case in an alleyway, took it home, opened it up to see if he thought it was the same case that he’d seen on the media, the same violin and bow, so he was sure it was what he had seen and he went to the police asking for the reward. So we’re going to give it to him and I’m not sure if it was him that took it, but for my own self, I’m just glad to have it back, so.
LIN: $10,000 reward, right?
DEUTSCH: Yes.
LIN: And some of that, you put up yourself.
DEUTSCH: I put all of it up myself. I mean, I thought if this wasn’t found, I was going to be owing almost a million dollars, so to me $10,000 is nothing. For the time being, hopefully my parents will chip in some, but I’m going to hopefully pay it all back. But I’m just so glad to have it back that $10,000 is just nothing.
LIN: $10,000 and no questions asked of this man, right, because you got the violin back?
DEUTSCH: Right. Now it’s in the police of — in the hands of the police, so I’m just glad that I have it back.
LIN: All right. And it’s not even your violin, so in the end, what you got, frankly, was the satisfaction of playing this instrument. My brother is a violinist and…
DEUTSCH: Oh, yes?
LIN: I have never known the passion of a musician, but I experience it through his absolute love of touching a great instrument. Can you share what was it like to play this violin? Why was it worth it?
DEUTSCH: Well, since the time I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of being a solo artist and you just can’t become a solo artist unless you have an instrument of this great sound and quality and something this old. And I’m just so grateful to Peter Mandell of the Mandell Collection of Southern California for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity. Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am, I wouldn’t be starting on a career. So I’m just thankful to have it back, and to — I mean, it was, I feel bad to have let him down in this way, but he’s a very forgiving person and has agreed to give it back to me. So I’m so thankful to him.
LIN: Lindsay, good luck. Good luck in your career. We look forward to seeing you play in the greatest halls in the nation, certainly.
DEUTSCH: Thanks, Carol.
LIN: Hang onto your instrument, huh?
DEUTSCH: Thanks.
It seems to be commonplace for players that play expensive violins that are lent to them by zillionares.
Yo-yo Ma is one of them. He plays the Davidoff Cello by Stradivari.
Musicians, however talented tend to be flaky. Yo-yo left the priceless instrument in the back of a taxi some years back.
There is a huge black market for these things.
Hope it warms up for you out there Today we have snow at 2,500 feet today.
Maybe they are forgetful about these instruments because it isn’t their millions invested in them? Seemed like I was watching the movie “The Red Violin” all over again reading about the journey of some of these instruments.
Pretty sad, in my opinion. Beside the fact that it is an expensive instrument that was damaged, it has a historical value.