Stolen Stradivarius found after decades comes to life again
NEW YORK — The Stradivarius stolen from the late violinist Roman Totenberg and miraculously found more than three decades later has a new life — under the chin of a budding 18-year-old virtuoso.
On Tuesday in New York, his three daughters presented the multimillion-dollar instrument on long-term loan to Juilliard student Nathan Meltzer.
Jill Totenberg says she and her sisters, Nina and Amy, “can now go to listen to our father” — as if the Polish-born American violinist were playing again.
“And once again, the beautiful, brilliant and throaty voice of that long-stilled violin will thrill audiences in concert halls around the world,” says Nina Totenberg, who with her sisters joined Meltzer at Rare Violins of New York, a world-class dealer that restored Totenberg’s violin after years of neglect.