Guests of Judy Morgan swooned over the notes of a 300 hundred year old violin played by Texarkana Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster, Kiril Laskarov, yesterday evening, April 20, 2017. The private event gave admirers a glimpse of what to expect at the Symphonic Spring show this weekend.
The Symphonic Spring is scheduled for the Perot Theatre in historic downtown Texarkana on April 22nd, starting at 7:30.
Laskarov, a native of Bulgaria, received a B.A. degree from State Academy in Sofia and a master’s degree from SIU. Saturday he will play the 1712 Stradivari “Le Brun,” valued at $15.5 million. The violin is currently on loan from an anonymous donor.
Music selections will include:
Schumann: Symphony no. 1 (Spring)
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D. op. 35
Higdon: Peachtree Street
This significant instrument dates back to the “golden period” and is named “Le Brun” after its first recorder owner in France, M. Le Brun. It was last sold in 2001 at Sotheby’s auction and is rumored to only have a few select owners, one was famous violin virtuoso, Niccolo Paganini.
One explanation for the remarkable sound and immeasurable value is the quality of wood. The maple wood is from the mountains of Croatia, where winters are extreme.
There are speculations that the violin was made from wood that experienced unusually low solar activity during growth, around 1645 to 1750. Other theories claim the wood was salvaged from old cathedrals, but tree-ring dating has debunked the latter.
According to Tarisio, fine instrument dealer, “ this instrument seems to have spent much of the 19th century in France.” Tarisio claims the violin belonged to the Boutillier family and Signor Signicelli after M. Le Brun. The violin was sold to Herr Otto Senn of Basel in 1922 and is rumored to have remained within the family until 2001.
Witness the 300 year old violin this weekend and experience the ethereal sounds in the Perot theatre. For more information, visit: www.trahc.org
