On Monday, January 27, 2014 armed robbers attacked violinist Frank Almond and stole the “Lipinski” Stradivarius violin he used at a Frankly Music chamber series concert that evening. Almond, who is also concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony and author of the non divisi culture blog, was tasered as he approached his car near the stage entrance after the performance and the violin case was driven away within seconds. The case also contained Almond’s two violin bows.
The 1/28/14 edition of Fox6now.com published an article by Myra Sanchick and Jeremy Ross which reports that the Milwaukee police is treating the robbery as an arts theft and an investigation is currently under way which includes Interpol and the FBI.
In addition to using the violin for his performance duties, Almond spearheaded a comprehensive research effort to document the instrument’s history as well as record an album featuring the instrument on the AVIE label in 2013 with pianist William Wolfram.
Almond launched a website, AViolinsLife.org, in 2013 to present the results of the research and to serve as a historical resource for the rare Stradivarius violin.
Milwaukee police say anyone with information about the whereabouts of the violin should call 414-935-7360 or the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at 414-226-7838. A reward offer is pending and we will update this post as necessary.
