ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Live performance violinist Stefan Jackiw carried out final Thursday with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England. It was the U.Okay. premiere of Gliere’s Violin Concerto.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

However all didn’t go in accordance with plan.

STEFAN JACKIW: I, you realize, stroll out on stage within the night with my violin and my bow. And I have been taking part in on this bow for about 20 years. I acquired it in my late teenagers, and I’ve performed, you realize, nicely over a thousand concert events on it over the course of 20 years and numerous hours of every day observe and by no means actually had any issues with it. So I simply went on stage, began taking part in. And about, I’d say possibly, like, 1 / 4 or a 3rd of the best way into the piece, I simply heard this loud snap.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIOLIN BOW SNAPPING)

JACKIW: And the bow mainly disintegrated in my hand, snapped in two.

SHAPIRO: Jackiw rapidly swapped a bow with the concertmaster, the main violinist of the orchestra.

JACKIW: And possibly the music stopped for about three seconds, and I grabbed the brand new bow and simply picked up proper the place I left off.

(SOUNDBITE OF REINHOLD GLIERE’S “VIOLIN CONCERTO, OP. 100”)

JACKIW: Nevertheless it wasn’t precisely clean crusing from that time on as a result of this new bow that I borrowed from the concertmaster felt completely totally different from my bow. You understand, the load is totally different. The stability is totally different. The way it feels within the hand is totally different. The – sort of the character of the grip is totally different. In order that was very type of disconcerting.

CHANG: To not point out the worth of the bow.

JACKIW: This bow, if it had been in good situation and if I needed to purchase it in the present day, would in all probability be between 30- and $35,000 U.S.

SHAPIRO: Some huge cash, Jackiw admits. However the historical past…

JACKIW: This bow is a bow made within the 1800s by a really well-known bow-maker on the time named Francois Nicolas Voirin. Sort of the best violins are made in Italy within the 1700s, like Stradivarius, and the best bows had been made in France within the 1800s.

CHANG: However don’t be concerned – the bow has been repaired, and Jackiw will use it tomorrow in a efficiency in New York.

JACKIW: I am informed that it is a – you realize, the restore is safe. And, you realize, on stage I can not take into consideration being type of ginger with it. I’ve to simply do my factor. And so I am hoping it’s going to maintain up. We’ll see. This will probably be type of its first – my first efficiency with it post-repair, and hopefully issues will go and not using a hitch, fingers crossed.

SHAPIRO: We’ll hold our fingers crossed for you, too, Stefan.

(SOUNDBITE OF REINHOLD GLIERE’S “VIOLIN CONCERTO, OP. 100”)

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