Gotta Love A Happy Ending!

Amazing.  And wonderful.  I am so impressed and pleased the Lipinski Strad has been found!  (Apparently only blocks from my home, which is mind-boggling.)

It's a good day for everyone.  Well, probably not for the three suspects arrested in the case, but hey, that's entirely their own doing.

There's an enjoyable book called Stradivari's Genius by Toby Faber that I recommend to people when they come into my store and say they want to learn more about great instruments.  The Lipinski Strad is one of the violins featured in the book, and I remember Frank Almond telling me a few years ago that he found the history about it presented there to be lacking.  He did his own research to enhance our knowledge of the instrument and add interest to its story.  Little could he have know that his own chapter in the violin's life would turn out to have so much intrigue! 

Here's hoping that's enough interesting material for any revisions to books about the Lipinski Strad to last a while.

(Don't you just want to keep smiling?)

In the News

What a peculiar week.  I learned again that tragedy can strike anywhere, what things matter, and what things don't.

I also learned that when you do a Google search for "violins" and "Milwaukee" apparently I come up first.  Thus I have been asked for quotes on a story that I have no real connection to because all of those directly involved can't speak about it yet.

The first I heard of the news of the stolen Lipinski Strad was from a talk radio reporter who needed to know something about Stradivaris.  He called me at work and gave me no details on what had happened or to whom.  I gave him general information about how fragile violins can be and why instruments by Antonio Stradivari are so valuable.  I didn't know why we were having the conversation, but at least what little of my recorded self I caught on the radio later that day sounded like it added to the discussion in a useful way.

Then I got a call from a local news station asking if they could interview me about it.  By then I'd searched online and discovered more details about the crime and could just not believe it.  I wasn't sure what I'd have to offer a TV interviewer on the topic, but I was willing to share what I could.

Stealing Beauty from Us All

I am shocked and saddened by the violent theft of Frank Almond's Stradivari.  The concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra was leaving a performance Monday night when he was attacked with a taser and his instrument was stolen.  The "Lipinski Stradivari" for insurance purposes is worth millions, but its true value is beyond measure.  It's a piece of history, and it's been stolen from all of us.