A Stradivarius violin crafted 300 yeas ago sold for $11.25 million at a New York auction on Friday, securing a solid financial future for a new generation of performers at the New England Conservatory.
The instrument, listed by Sotheby’s of Manhattan as “a masterpiece of sound”, once belonged to the celebrated 19th-century Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim, a close friend of the composer Johannes Brahms. It was gifted to the New England Conservatory in 2015 following the death of its most recent owner, a former student, Si-Hon Ma, with the understanding it would one day be sold to fund musical scholarships.
The winning bid for the so-called Joachim-Ma Stradivarius was almost $5 million short of the record $15.9 million paid in 2011 for the Lady Blunt Stradivarius named for Lord Byron’s daughter, a figure some predicted could be nearly matched on Friday.
The working instrument was crafted in 1714 by Antonio Stradivari during his renowned “Golden Period”, reports ArtNews.
The money will be used primarily to fund an endowment at the Boston musical college providing scholarships for aspiring young violinists. Andrea Kalyn, president of the conservatory, said the instrument had been a prized possession, and that a handful of students had enjoyed the privilege of playing it, but the school ultimately felt the time was right to sell.
“Now we really have the chance to have it benefit so many more students, generations of students to come,” she told the New York Times. “It’s really about what’s the most powerful use of the instrument.”
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