Stradivarius 1716 Violin "Booth"

When I played for the very first time on the Booth violin, I immediately had goose bumps from its deep and warm sound and at the same time, I knew that there is still so much to discover about this instrument. The sound of these kinds of violins is always a mystery. It feels like they want to tell us stories about what they lived through during the last 300 years. Meanwhile after a certain period of time, I can say that the sound of the violin has changed and developed since the first time I played it, and I learned very much from it by discovering different colours in sound, which this violin provides. It inspires me to express my emotions through music every time and I am extremely grateful for the unique opportunity to play this wonderful violin.I remember a nice story when I was at Tanglewood Festival to play my debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Maestro von Dohnanyi the Beethoven violin concerto a few years ago. Before I went on stage, suddenly somebody knocked on my door and it was Joseph Silverstein, the previous concert master of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He said "we have something in common regarding the Booth Stradivarius". He told me that his teacher was Mischa Mischakoff, who owned the Booth violin in the 1950s and when Silverstein had his debut with the Boston Symphony to play also the Beethoven violin concerto, Mischakoff gave him the Booth Stradivarius for that concert. This was a very special and moving moment.

(From NMF Concert program July 9, 2015)