Strad Fest LA Showcases 8 Of The World's Most Rare Violins
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An unprecedented music festival is running over the next few days in Los Angeles - centered around the world's most rare violins.
LA Chamber Orchestra Prepares For Strad Fest
Rachel Fine, the executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, told KNX1070's Megan Goldsby Strad Fest L.A. will gather eight Stradivarius violins, which at a combined value of more than $40 million dollars, are extremely rare.
"For the people who are able to attend the festival, it probably will never happen again in their life," she said.
Chamber Orchestra Director: Stradivarius Violins Like No Other
Science has tried and failed to re-create what ever it is that the Stradavari family did in Cremona, Italy in the 1700s that made the instruments so well-loved for centuries. But even with today's techology, the sound of the Stradivarius violins has yet to be replicated.
"Well, I think when you hear them, you know. It's an exquisite sound. There's a tone and a timbre that just can't be replicated," Fine said.
One of the most famous of the violins will be played by its L.A.-based owner at the festival. It's the 1720 Red Mendelssohn - which Fine says "came to the attention of the world in the movie The Red Violin."
The film imagines where the instrument may have been during the 200 years that it went missing.
"There's so much mystique and mystery surrounding these violins," Fine said.
Strad Fest L.A., running March 26-29, is already sold-out.
