A Violin "Worth Tens of Thousands of Euros" Stolen from French Train

An Italian violinist had owned this instrument for fifteen years

The Champs Elysées Orchestra, a renowned music formation based between Paris and Vienne, is calling for witnesses to the theft of a violin by one of its musicians on Wednesday, November 24.

The orchestra was in transit between Poitiers and Zurich after a concert at the Auditorium in Poitiers. When the musicians arrived at the Paris-Montparnasse train station, as they got off the train, one member of the orchestra, realized that his instrument was missing.

The stolen violin is signed by Eugenio Degani, a Venetian luthier from the end of the 19th century. An esteemed instrument is valued at “several tens of thousands of euros.”

“It’s a terrible loss for a professional musician. It is the violin of a life, of a career," says the orchestra’s production administrator David Réveillault. "This instrument, he lived with, he made it evolve, adjust. They formed a pair on stage.

The Champs-Elysées Orchestra remains hopeful. “The instrument is reported, it will be very difficult to resell it without attracting attention. If the thief tries to sell it, he will probably get caught and risk big. The best thing to do is return it, and things will work out for everyone."