In Friday’s (2/20) New York Times, Daniel J. Wakin writes, “Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, has joined an illustrious club: prominent musicians who forgot their instruments in taxis. In Mr. Dicterow’s case, it was a 1727 Guarneri del Gesù violin belonging to the orchestra. But his separation anxiety lasted barely 30 minutes because of a lucky set of connections that sent the taxi driver zooming back in time for a concert curtain.” Dicterow left the instrument in a cab he took to Carnegie Hall, where the Philharmonic was playing Wednesday. After realizing his misstep he made arrangements to borrow an instrument from a colleague, “who in turn borrowed the instrument of a substitute violinist. Meanwhile, the next fare told the cab driver, whom Mr. Dicterow identified as Gordon Addai, about the instrument. Mr. Addai called a phone number from a luggage tag on the case, reaching the Philharmonic’s travel agent in California, who called a Philharmonic staff member and passed on Mr. Addai’s number. The driver was reached in Lower Manhattan and made it up to Carnegie Hall in time for the Guarneri to be passed to Mr. Dicterow, who was waiting in the wings to go onstage. The other two violinists received their own fiddles back.”
Change font size
