For one night only, a $100 million orchestra takes the stage

Clara Kim stood in a sun-dappled room at Reuning & Son Violins in Brookline and picked up a Stradivarius violin. Tucking it under her chin, she whipped through a low chromatic scale before leaping up to play in the violin’s silvery upper range.

“Wow. Feels expensive,” Kim quipped as she set the instrument down.

It was the first time the violinist had ever played an instrument by the 17th century luthier Antonio Stradivari, widely considered the greatest maker of all time. Today, some of his violins fetch in the tens of millions of dollars.

Violinists Annie Rabbat and Zenas Hsu sat on a couch nearby, also at the shop to select rare instruments to play in a concert with Boston’s A Far Cry chamber orchestra. A nervous energy filled the air as they reverently handled the dozen violins displayed around the room, all by 17th and 18th century Italian makers like Giuseppe Guarneri and Nicolo Amati.

Rabbat found herself drawn to a violin by Carlo Bergonzi. As she played, the music became slower and more expressive. Rabbat let out a deep sigh as the final yearning note hung in the air.

“I feel like … if I lean in, it responds, if I lean away, it just continues to ring,” she said.

Three centuries ago in the Italian city of Cremona, the art of modern violin making was born. Today, the instruments made by the great luthiers of Cremona are considered the best in the world, like the Stradivarius owned by the celebrity violinist Joshua Bell.

Most musicians never get a chance to play instruments of this caliber or cost. But on Friday, March 29, the members of A Far Cry get to live out that dream onstage. Each of the ensemble’s 18 musicians will be playing a rare instrument on loan from Reuning & Son in a program called "Stradivari Serenade." The orchestra will perform one of its signature pieces, Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings," along with other works, and showcase the instruments in solo and small ensemble settings.

Sitting in his office, fresh off a flight from London, Reuning & Son president Christopher Reuning described the difference between the famed makers in the collection.

“Bergonzi makes an instrument that's a little darker, warmer sounding, a little huskier sounding, let's say, than Stradivari,” he said. “Amati can be an extremely elegant, beautiful sound. And the Guarneris, they're also perhaps a bit more husky, like the Bergonzi. But they all have this shimmery quality, which comes from these violins that are made in Cremona.”

It’s the second time A Far Cry has performed on instruments from Reuning’s collection.
The idea evolved from “violin tastings” in which Reuning would present rare instruments to an audience and members of A Far Cry would play them.

Thinking it was a little farfetched, A Far Cry's executive director Grace Kennerly asked Reuning if it would be possible to supply the entire orchestra with instruments for a concert. He said, "Sure, why not?"

It didn’t take long to put together. In February of 2020, the orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s “Serenade For Strings” from memory in New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall on rare instruments on loan from Reuning & Son.

“A lot of these instruments, over time, have become solo instruments,” Kennerly said. “But how often are you going to see a whole collection of those instruments all played at the same time?”

She recalled the first time she heard the orchestra play on Reuning’s instruments during a dress rehearsal for the original concert.

“They played the opening phrase of the first movement of the Tchaikovsky's ‘Serenade for Strings,’ and the foundation and depth of the bass, supporting, and then coming up through the violins, which were just spinning out into the hall, was insane,” Kennerly said. “The orchestra already has such a cohesive sound and to hear them like, turn the dial up to 11, not to make a ‘Spinal Tap’ reference, was just, I mean, my jaw dropped.”

Reuning & Son is cagey about revealing the dollar value of individual instruments in its collection, but estimates the 18 instruments onstage will be worth a collective $100 million.

These instruments are more expensive than they’ve ever been, thanks to dwindling supply as pieces age, and increased demand in a rapidly inflating art and collectables market.

“They've been coveted by wealthy people and musicians and collectors, and the greatest artists have all strived to find a way to afford them," Reuning said. "It's a little sad, now that they've become so valuable, that it's really hard for a musician to buy one now.”

All three musicians visiting the shop agreed the violins lived up to the hype – though it could be hard to put your finger on exactly why.

“There is a bit of a mystery, too, of, why do they sound so great?” Hsu said. “Is it the age? Is it the secrets of the makers?”

But, he added, at a certain point you had to let those questions go, “and just play it and realize how special the sound is without having a clear answer as to why.”

After trying out each violin on display, Hsu fell for the Strad. He sensed an eagerness in it, an ability to conjure new shades. It was as if he could only paint in primary colors before, and now a whole dazzling palette had opened up.