I have played the violin for over 55 years, and I understand a musician’s connection to his favorite instrument. Recently, two violinists, one in the United States and one in Great Britain, suffered one of the worst events that can occur in a serious violinist’s life: they lost their instruments.
British violinist Catrin Win Morgan spent eight years searching for the perfect violin, and found it in June 2011. But in February 2012, as she traveled to visit her sister, a stranger on a train snatched her instrument. Security footage recorded the event, but her violin has yet to be recovered. A post-doctoral student at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Ms. Morgan does not know where she will get another violin.
A recent event in the United States had a happier ending. A student from Wichita, Kansas, accidentally left her violin at school. When she returned to pick it up, she found that a vandal had smashed the instrument to pieces. Her grandfather had given her that violin, and as the child of a single mother, the girl could not afford to replace it.
Her community sprang into action. The local classical music station ran a story about the young girl’s plight, and a host of callers offered replacement violins. The owner of a local violin shop, an artisan who repairs violins, delivered a violin, bow, and case to the station as a gift to the young music lover. The girl was able to perform on her new violin during a concert with the Wichita All-City Orchestra.
About the author: Leon Turovsky, MD, first studied violin in the Soviet Union. After immigrating to the United States, he became a noted Brooklyn specialist in aesthetic and laser medicine, but retains his love for the violin.
British violinist Catrin Win Morgan spent eight years searching for the perfect violin, and found it in June 2011. But in February 2012, as she traveled to visit her sister, a stranger on a train snatched her instrument. Security footage recorded the event, but her violin has yet to be recovered. A post-doctoral student at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Ms. Morgan does not know where she will get another violin.
A recent event in the United States had a happier ending. A student from Wichita, Kansas, accidentally left her violin at school. When she returned to pick it up, she found that a vandal had smashed the instrument to pieces. Her grandfather had given her that violin, and as the child of a single mother, the girl could not afford to replace it.
Her community sprang into action. The local classical music station ran a story about the young girl’s plight, and a host of callers offered replacement violins. The owner of a local violin shop, an artisan who repairs violins, delivered a violin, bow, and case to the station as a gift to the young music lover. The girl was able to perform on her new violin during a concert with the Wichita All-City Orchestra.
About the author: Leon Turovsky, MD, first studied violin in the Soviet Union. After immigrating to the United States, he became a noted Brooklyn specialist in aesthetic and laser medicine, but retains his love for the violin.