More adventures with priceless violins

Violinist Elina Vähälä made international headlines back in April following a performance of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Finland’s Sinfonia Lahti. The headlines, however, weren’t because of what she was playing and how beautifully she was playing it. Actually, I take that back. Because what she was playing on was a 1780 Giovanni Battista … Read more

The world of million-dollar violins

In my second year of playing the violin, back in 2006, I decided my $200 starter violin, initially a rental, had served its purpose, and it was time to invest in a quality advanced beginner violin. My budget was $2000. The search took five months as I sampled over forty violins, in San Francisco, Santa … Read more