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Published: October 17, 2025 10:46 PM IST
music-violin-stradivari: Stradivarius violins in the spotlight at Brussels concert
By Milan Berkmans
BRUSSELS – A 300-year-old Stradivari violin worth approximately $16 million will take center stage at a concert in Brussels on Friday, performed by Armenian Sergei Khachaturian with the Belgian National Orchestra.
The violin, renowned for its extraordinary tone range and historical importance, was made around 1724 by the Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari in his hometown of Cremona, and was recently purchased by a benefactor of the Straton Society, which loans extraordinary instruments.
“It is a great pleasure to be able to create a connection between me as a performer and the instrument…an incredible instrument with such a beautiful sound and complexity,” said Khachatryan, who has been entrusted with the Stradivarius for the next 10 years.
On Friday at the Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts, he will interpret the technically demanding Brahms Violin Concerto.
“Brahms’s music is a reflection of the beauty of nature and human emotions,” Khachaturian told Reuters. “If you have such an incredible violin, you can show it off.”
This instrument is the most valuable of the several hundred surviving Stradivari violins, which can sell for millions of dollars, with the most sought-after being from Stradivari’s 1700–1720 “Golden Period”.
Known as the “Kieswetter” – after the 19th-century German violinist Christoph Gottfried Kiesewetter – it has been played by leading violinists including Augustin Hadelich and Maxim Vengerov, who used it at the 1996 Grammy Awards ceremony.
“There’s actually a very beautiful photo next to the instrument with Maxim Vengerov, Sting and Elton John,” said Stefan Jensen, co-founder of the Stratton Society.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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