The National Violin

The market for high-end string instruments has become so absurdly expensive in recent years that most soloists are dependant on the good will of wealthy benefactors to purchase and loan them a Strad or del Gesu. But for Min Lee, one benefactor just wouldn’t have fit the bill. The rising young violinist plays on a 1704 Guarnerius fiddle purchased for her at a cost of $500,000 after an extraordinary public/private fundraising campaign spearheaded by the government of her native Singapore.