Masterpiece restored: Stolen Stradivarius will sing again
WASHINGTON — After a meticulous restoration that took more than a year, a Stradivarius violin that was stolen from violinist Roman Totenberg and missing for decades is about to return to the stage.
Mira Wang, a violinist who immigrated to the United States from China 30 years ago to study under Totenberg, will play the instrument at a private concert in New York on March 13, and more performances after that are possible.
The violin known as the Ames Stradivarius is one of roughly 550 surviving instruments made by Antonio Stradivari, history’s most renowned violin maker. Built in 1734, it’s likely worth millions of dollars, although it hasn’t been appraised since it was recovered.
It was stolen in 1980 while Totenberg was greeting well-wishers after a performance in Boston, and wasn’t recovered until 2015, three years after Totenberg died at age 102.