Dashing Violinist Smashes His Pricy Fiddle

(AP)  Can his fractured fiddle - a million-dollar Guadagnini - be fixed? It's too early to tell.

David Garrett, a former model who has been called the David Beckham of the classical scene, said he tripped while carrying his 18th century violin as he was leaving London's Barbican Hall after a performance, smashing it to bits.

"I had it over my shoulder in its case and I fell down a concrete flight of stairs backward," Garrett said Thursday. "When I opened the case, much of my G.B. Guadagnini had been crushed."

Garrett said he bought the 1772 violin for US$1 million in 2003, and he is now hoping to get it repaired in New York, where he is based.

"I hope and pray that it can be fixed, but if it can't, I hope my insurance policy will let me buy another great violin," the 26-year-old musician said. He told The Associated Press that other published accounts saying the violin was a Stradivarius were incorrect. Guadagnini is believed by some to have been a student of Antonio Stradivari.

The accident occurred Dec. 27 but only became known this week when he returned to London for another concert at the Barbican and told British reporters what had happened.

For his Valentine's Day concert there, he is playing a Stradivarius that's been lent to him.

Garrett gained attention as a child prodigy. Before he was 10, he played as a soloist with the London Philharmonic, according to his Web site. When he studied at the Juilliard School in New York, he became a part-time model to help supplement his income.

[toolmangler-2009]

I am hanging on to my 49 Studebaker, when it''''s the only one left, all will beat a path to my door.
Posted by thgdriver at 12:40 PM : Feb 15, 2008



I applaude your decision, I had a ''48 Studebaker Landcruiser and wish I had it back, (toughest Car I ever had). I was broadsided by a ''56 Buick at an intersection, slammed across the street onto the sidewalk and only suffered a dent 5 inches by 2 inches beside the airvent in the right front fender, The Buick was nearly totalled, it tore the front end completely up.

[mkobran-2009]

Boo, Hoo. It''s hard for me to feel sorry for someone who, at the ripe old age of 21, is able to afford a $1 million dollar fiddle in the first place. Maybe he should have taken part of that $1 million and invested it in a stronger fiddle case!

[brianp55]

That''s what he gets for buying one of those cheap Stradivarius knockoffs. They just don''t stand up to wear and tear.

[marckb1]

Sorry, Newster1, but you''re the idiot. Anyone who knows anything about classical wooden instruments knows that you MUST play them regularly. That is why you''ll almost never find a Stradivarius in a museum. Every single one is, you guessed it, out on tour.

[oeangus]

He should have learned the tuba instead.

[closethippy1]

How can a $1 million violin not come in a case that can better protect it? He probably was out of money after he bought it and got the violin case at Wal Mart.

[marckb1]

Sorry, Newster1, but you''re the idiot. Anyone who knows anything about classical wooden instruments knows that you MUST play them regularly. That is why you''ll almost never find a Stradivarius in a museum. Every single one is, you guessed it, out on tour.

[oleander8]

To: newster1

You, sir, are the idiot. You don''t have a clue.

[keithle1]

Not just a pretty face if he "played as a soloist with the London Philharmonic" before he was 10.

[nothappyatall]

What an idiot taking a million dollar 18th century work of art out on tours, it should be in a museum not on a road show!

They will never be able to fix this the way it was, it will never be the same.