The world’s top classical music performers and owners of rare instruments are keeping their fingers crossed that a violin that has been recovered in Milwaukee will turn out to be the stolen Lipinski Stradivarius.
Milwaukee police have announced that they have taken into their possession a violin but had yet to confirm its identity. A reward of $100,000 had been offered for the recovery of the Strad, which has been valued at about $5m.
The violin was grabbed on 27 January from the hands of Frank Almond, the concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, who was walking to his car after a performance of Messiaen. He was shot with a stun gun by an assailant who made off in a minivan with an accomplice.
On Wednesday police said they had made three “high-quality arrests” of two men aged 36 and 41 and a woman aged 32, all from Milwaukee.
Almond has declined any public comments since the theft on the advice of police, though he did say on his Facebook page on Thursday: “I’m told there will be a press conference this afternoon. Hoping for the best.”
Joseph Bein of the Chicago rare instrument dealers Bein & Fushi said that were the recovery of the Strad confirmed, it would be “absolutely thrilling news for Frank, the Milwaukee Symphony, and classical music fans everywhere. Most important of all, Frank is hopefully OK and has a full recovery from this entire ordeal. I can’t imagine what he has gone through, physically, mentally, and emotionally from this attack.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/06/stolen-stradivarius-violin-bring-relief-classical-musicians
