Stradivari Society

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The Stradivari Society is a philanthropic organization based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Geoffrey Fushi and Mary Galvin, it is known for its Stradivarius instruments, such as violins, violas and cellos loaned to performers throughout the world.

Contents 1 History 2 Borrowing a Stradivarius 3 Stradivari Society Violins 3.1 Other Stradivari Society instruments 4 Reference

[edit] History

The Society began in 1985 when Mary Galvin, wife of then-president of Motorola Bob Galvin, was approached by a friend, Geoffrey Fushi of Bein & Fushi Violins in Chicago, to loan the "Ruby" Stradivarius of 1708 that he had previously sold to her to a promising violinist, Dylana Jensen. Seeing that such rare violins were very expensive and difficult to obtain, Galvin and Fushi designed the structure and name of the society after loaning another violin when Dorothy DeLay of the Juilliard School requested Fushi for a violin for her most promising student, ten-year-old Midori. Enjoying the experience of loaning such beautiful violins to those who could use it to grow and launch their career, after that a string of loans followed.

Famous awardees of these loans include Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Leila Josefowicz, Sarah Chang, Vadim Repin, Hilary Hahn, Maxim Vengerov, and Paul Coletti, all of whom have enhanced their careers playing violins the Society arranged for them to borrow.

[edit] Borrowing a Stradivarius

The Society has grown to two dozen patrons who are each rewarded with tri-annual concerts by the artist to whom they have loaned an instrument. The loan is typically for a period of three years, during which the artist pays the insurance and brings the instrument in to Stradivari Society's renowned curator, John Becker, for inspection three times a year- no other violin maker is allowed to work on the instrument without permission. Often the artist then buys the instrument from the patron, as have Joshua Bell and Gil Shaham. The society administers the loans and acts as liaison between artist and patron.

[edit] Stradivari Society Violins

• Cecily Ward, Stradivarius, 1681, "Fleming"
• Vadim Gluzman, Stradivarius, 1689, "Auer" (owned by Leopold Auer)
• Rugerro Allifranchini, Stradivarius, 1694, "Fetzer"
• Gil Shaham, "Comtesse de Polignac" Stradivarius, 1699 (Was purchased from the society following the loan.)
• Frank Almond, Stradivarius, 1701, "Dushkin"
• Berent Korfker, Stradivarius, c 1702, "King Maximilian Joseph"
• Stefan Milenkovich,Stradivarius, 1702, "Lyall"
• Tamaki Kawakubo, Stradivarius, 1707, "La Cathédrale"
• Janice Martin Stradivarius, 1708, "Burstein, Bagshawe"
• Vadim Repin, Stradivarius, 1708, "Ruby," previously loaned to Leila Josefowicz from 1993-1994 and owned by Pablo Sarasate.
• Ilya Gringolts, Stradivarius, c 1723, "Kiesewetter"
• Joshua Bell, "Tom Taylor" Stradivarius, 1732 (Was purchased from the society following the loan.)
• Janine Jansen, Stradivarius, 1727, "Barrere"

• Sheryl Staples, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, c 1720, "Kartman"
• Adele Anthony, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, c 1735, "Mary Portman"
• Soovin Kim, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, 1735, "Sennhauser"
• Siqing Lu, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, c 1742, "Wieniawski"

• Daniel Roehn , A&H Amati, 1617, "Lobkowicz" (On loan to Rachel Barton at the time of her train accident, the instrument was undamaged.)
• Yunzhi Liu, Nicolò Amati, c 1635-40
• Tom Stone Jr., Carlo Bergonzi, c 1733, "Tonge, Scheinin"
• Ji Sun Yang , Nicolò Gagliano, c 1750
• Giora Schmidt, Guarneri School, c 1740
• Hanbin Yoo, G.P. Maggini, c 1600
• Tai Murray, Petrius Merighi, 1772
• Axel Strauss, J.F. Pressenda, 1845, "Taylor"

[edit] Other Stradivari Society instruments

• Donald McInnes, Viola, Gasparo da Salò, 16th century, "Adam Collection"
• Richard Hirschl, Cello, Ferdinando Garimberti, Milan, 1923

[edit] Reference

• Stradivari Society - Official website