NEW YORK (Agencies)
A U.S. violinist who left a four-million dollar Stradivarius violin in the back of a taxi was to give a free concert at one of New York's main airports on Tuesday to thank the Egyptian-born cab driver who returned it.
Russian-born Philippe Quint left the 1723 "Ex-Keisewetter" violin in Newark taxi driver Mohammed Khalil's cab last week after getting off a flight from Houston, Texas, his representative said.
Quint, 34, gave Khalil, 57, 100 dollars for the return of the rare instrument -- all he had in his wallet at the time -- but felt obliged to make a further gesture by offering to give a 30-minute concert for Newark's taxi drivers.
The violinist has also invited Khalil and his family to a concert he is giving in New York's Carnegie Hall in September.
Quint said the Stradivarius -- the name for instruments made by famed Italian Antonio Stradivari -- was appraised at $4 million in part because it was one of only three Ex-Keisewetter violins to exist. He has it on loan from two U.S. philanthropists.
Stradivari's instruments are praised for their sound, which projects clearly with rich tones, and are considered easy to play as they are highly responsive to a musician's touch.
He made about 1,100 in his lifetime, most of them violins, and about 650 survive today. |
