I just held a Stradivarius!

...and it was so LIGHT! The Talich Quartet from the Czech Republic came to Salt Lake to perform this evening, and (lucky me) I have connections from the gym who are board members of the SLC Chamber Music Society. They have asked Albert and me to help sell cds during intermissions this season, in return for tickets and a chance to meet the musicians. We had the honor of driving the cellist back to their hotel after the concert and picking his brain about music, art, and life in eastern Europe...and I got to hold a 1729 Stradivarius violin! I was instructed to hold it just so, with my fingers on one hand touching the chin rest and metal plate at the base of the instrument and my other hand carefully holding the neck so as not to touch the varnish. It was kind of like holding my friend Zuzana's baby for the first time when she was a week old---what the heck do I do with this thing, and what happens if I DROP it?! Pretty cool that such a small, delicate instrument could make such a full and mellow sound. What really struck me after the concert was that while onstage, the instruments seemed so large and the musicians relatively small, when in "real life" up close the instruments were smaller than expected and the musicians were much taller. Funny!