Nine-year-old Freya Chen, a violinist, is one of the youngest students at Juilliard Pre-College.
The instrument she currently plays is a half-size, which led her to a unique opportunity: to perform on a priceless artifact that most will only ever see behind glass.
What You Need To Know
Nine-year-old Freya Chen, a violinist, is one of the youngest students at Juilliard Pre-College
She got to perform on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s childhood violin
The violin is rarely played, and Chen is the first person in the United States to perform on Mozart’s childhood violin
The violin is currently on display at The Morgan Library and Museum, which partnered with the International Mozarteum Foundation to create an exhibit tracing Mozart’s life and legacy
Chen got to perform on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s childhood violin.
“He put his hand and fingers on that violin more than 200 years ago, and now when I’m putting my hand on that violin, I feel like we’re shaking hands and greeting each other,” she told NY1.
It’s a greeting over 200 years in the making. Chen is a huge Mozart fan, and she got to perform a few of his many violin duets on the violin he played on when he was around 6 years old.
“I’ve read books about him, and I’ve played his music, watched movies about him,” she said. “But I kind of never knew that I would ever get to play on his violin, which is an amazing opportunity.”
The violin is rarely played, and Chen is the first person in the United States to perform on Mozart’s childhood violin. Linus Klumpner, the CEO of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, says hearing this instrument is a way to experience the authentic sound of Mozart.
“It’s hard to find a talented young person that is able to play the Mozart violin because you have to be very well talented, young as well, and so it’s played on very rare occasions,” he said.
“Musicians think that instruments have something they call ‘the anima,’ the soul, so they believe that there is still something of the former owners in it still,” Klumpner explained. “For any musician, it’s a highly emotional moment when they are performing on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s original violin.”
The performance was presented by the American Mozarteum Society, which is dedicated to preserving and advancing the legacy of Mozart.
The violin is currently on display at The Morgan Library and Museum, which partnered with the International Mozarteum Foundation to create an exhibit tracing Mozart’s life and legacy. The exhibit is called “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Treasures from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg.”
The exhibition features rarely seen items, including Mozart’s childhood violin, personal letters, original manuscripts and his clavichord. Inside the clavichord is a handwritten note from Mozart’s wife which, in summary, proclaims this was the instrument her husband composed the famous opera, “The Magic Flute,” on.
The exhibition is considered the most extensive collection of Mozart’s belongings and artifacts ever displayed in the United States.
Robin McClellan is the Mary Flegler Carey curator of music manuscripts and printed music at The Morgan Library and Museum.
“It’s incredible that these instruments that Mozart owned and played on are not just museum pieces. They’re played, they’re alive, they go all over the world being played by great musicians like Freya,” McClellan told NY1.
The exhibit at The Morgan Library and Museum will be on display until May 31.