A Guarneri del Gesu "Robrecht" worth some $10 million has come to Russia, being purchased by Russia's great violinist Dmitry Kogan and his Foundation for support of unique cultural projects. 

      The Kogan's Foundation is occupied with the search for unique instruments and their restoration with the help of top-qualified masters. Then such instruments find new life in the hands of top professional musicians so that they might elicit soul southing sounds out of them over and over again.

        As a co-founder of the foundation, Dmitry Kogan is lucky to play the timeless violin "Robrecht" manufactured by the great luthier Giuseppe Guarneri back in 1728. He said that, according to legend, this exact instrument used to belong to the great Italian virtuoso Giovanni Battista Viotti.

        This "Robrecht" violin wasn't played much in the 20th century, so its condition is almost ideal. "A Guarneri del Gesu in such condition is an absolutely unique thing,” Kogan said.

        Violin soloist Dmitry Kogan‘s musical heritage is significant to the global classical marketplace. His grandfather, Leonid Kogan, often played and worked with Dmitry Shostakovich himself, and his grandmother, Elizaveta Gilels, was the sister of famed Russian pianist, Emil Gilels. Such important family ties have guaranteed that Dmitry Kogan has developed into a masterful interpreter of the music of Shostakovich.

      Dmitry Kogan plays the "Robrecht" violin

Source: RIA Novosti Russia Today