An awful lot of twittering is going on about the hotel theft suffered by poor Joshua Bell while touring Spain with the ill-fated London Philharmonic.
Apparently, a thief impersonating the soloist entered his hotel room in Zaragoza during rehearsal and cleared off with its contents, including a Breguet watch valued at $38,000. His Strad was safe because Josh was playing it at the time.
What we’re wondering is:
1 who needs a $38,000 watch?
2 when do you wear it?
3 why take it on tour?
I guess the insurance may have more questions.
One possible reason for owning such a watch is to be able to look at it from time to time and say “The fact that I can afford this thing proves that I really am a good violinist after all, despite so much evidence to the contrary.”
It looks as if the watch was a gift to thank Bell for hosting a New York Phil fundraising dinner celebrating Breguet’s sponsorship of the orchestra: http://www.joshuabell.com/news/joshua-co-hosts-breguet-new-york-philharmonic-dinner
Call it what you want–I call it endorsement income for saying Breguet’s timepiece is the “stradavarius of watches.”
On price, or performance?
Pfffft, why worry? Putin was “re-elected” so another concert in Moscow and another bag of cash will cover the loss. Thanks IMG!
Zaragoza concertgoers are now reporting that Joshua Bell was quite ill with gastrointestinal problems during
the concert there on Feb. 29th. He was very pale and Maestro Vladimir Jurowski was clearly concerned and attentive.
Bell gave a magnificent performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto and was immediately rushed
to the hospital in an ambulance after the performance, according to audience members.
One can only wonder if this is related somehow to the robbery in his hotel room the same night. Foul play, perhaps? Or just a run of incredibly bad luck. . .
5 days later, still not a word of this robbery has been reported in the Spanish press.