Pavel Vernikov plays again on a Guadanini
On December 8, Pavel Vernikov had his Guadanini violin stolen. Two months later, thanks to the generosity of conductor Gilbert Varga, Tibor's son, the soloist returned to the stage with a violin by the same great Italian luthier.
Pavel Vernikov, renowned violinist, professor at the HEMU and artistic director of the Sion Festival, had his instrument stolen on the train between Geneva and Sion. Taking advantage of a jostling situation, an individual snatched his priceless 1747 "Contessa Crespi" violin by luthier Giovanni Battista Guadanini. The theft of this instrument, on which he had been playing for some twenty years, deeply affected the artist. Unfortunately, the search for the missing instrument has so far come to nothing.
But in the face of such tragedy, the theft sparked a tremendous outpouring of solidarity from musicians all over the world. Most admirably, Gilbert Varga, son of Tibor Varga, very quickly and spontaneously offered to make available to Pavel Vernikov the Guadanini his father had given him. This superb violin had not been played since 2003. So, both the instrument and the musician had to "get used to" each other. Pavel Vernikov devotes himself assiduously to this task.
On Tuesday, February 7, 2017, during the concert at the Fondation Pierre Gianadda, with the Tchaikovsky Trio, Pavel Vernikov, returned to the stage and played this new instrument in a magnificent and very moving concert.
Pavel Vernikov is preparing the program for the next edition of the Sion Festival, which will run from August 16 to September 3, 2017. The program will be presented on Thursday, March 30, 2017. Vernikov will strum the strings of his new violin.
