A New York musician who snoozed and lost his valuable, nearly 100-year-old violin is calling the return of his prized instrument "a miracle." Tom Chiu, a Julliard-educated musician and founder of the contemporary classical group Flux Quartet, said Wednesday he is "overjoyed" his instrument has been recovered. After a concert performance in the Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood on June 27, the 36-year-old Chiu fell asleep while waiting for the subway inside a hot, humid Metropolitan Transit Authority station.
When he awoke, the instrument — made by highly regarded early 20th century Italian violin-maker Stefano Scarampella — and his backpack were both gone, Chiu told local media. Though he declined to give the instrument's value, other Scarampella violins have sold at U.S.
auctions for upwards of $75,000 US. After filing a report with police, Chiu made a public appeal for the return of his instrument, which he had inherited from his parents and been playing for more than a decade. Late Tuesday, MTA officials contacted the musician, who has performed across Europe and at Carnegie Hall.
A worker at the subway's lost-and-found department at the Coney Island station had come across his violin and backpack, which also held a bow he had used since childhood. Aside from a slight scratch, the instrument was intact after the ordeal. "I'm feeling great and I'm really grateful.
" In the past few years, thefts of rare and valuable violins have increasingly made the news and the public has become more familiar with the names of the famed luthiers behind these instruments, including Antonio Stradivari and the Guarneri family. Last month, Austrian authorities recovered and returned a Stradivari violin worth more than $2.8 million Cdn to musician Christian Altenburger a little more than a week after it was stolen from a safe in his Vienna apartment.
With files from the Associated Press A New York musician who snoozed and lost his valuable, nearly 100-year-old violin is calling the return of his prized instrument "a miracle.
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