(NEW YORK, NY) -- The 1750 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin, played by superstar violinist Joshua Bell during his formative teenage years when he began his concert career under the tutelage of the legendary Josef Gingold, will be sold at auction on May 16, 2019, it was announced by Tarisio Auctions.
One of the world’s leading sources of fine and rare stringed instruments, Tarisio has been retained by The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music which received the instrument in 1963 from an anonymous donor. Since then, the violin has been loaned to deserving young students, including Joshua Bell. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Jacobs School of Music’s students and faculty.
“I officially started my career in 1982 at the age of 14, while continuing my studies at Indiana University under the great Josef Gingold. I was unable to afford a great violin at that time, but thankfully Indiana University was in possession of this wonderful Guadagnini violin, and kindly lent it to me during this crucial period in my musical life, until I was finally able to purchase an instrument of my own. I played dozens of concerts on this fine violin and have fond memories of its glorious tone,” recalls Joshua Bell.
The 1750 violin was made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, the highly sought- after violin maker from the 18th century who worked in Piacenza, Milan, Parma and Turin. Tarisio sold a similar instrument by the maker in June of 2018 for $2.1 million, the current auction world-record for the maker.
Other sale highlights include a rare Guarneri viola -only seven of which are known, the others were played by William Primrose, Pinchas Zuckerman and Nobuko Imai, as well as an original manuscript by John Cage dedicated to Paul Zukofsky. The full catalogue of instruments for sale will be published online on April 24th at www.tarisio.com
