The Slapin-Solomon Duo

Over the years, my instruments have had several exciting “adventures”.

Four violas were lost or stolen, one “destroyed in a fire”, and one almost burnt in an actual fire. All were somehow recovered, much to my profound relief!

Opus 112. Stolen in Kansas. (1980?) The story about this one is unclear however the viola is now being played in an orchestra in Wisconsin.

Opus 122. This supposedly burnt one showed up in an estate sale several years later. I was beyond relieved since the thought of one of my “babies” being obliterated by fire was extremely painful. An insurance agent once told me that there are several possible scenarios one can think of as to why the viola was not burned down with the house!

Opus 407, 16.25” d’amore. Speaking of fire, another musician had had the misfortune of having a fire break out in his apartment. Fortunately, the viola survived the fire although his BAM case was partly melted! Several years later, the owner passed away young with cardiac problems. A few years later his parents asked me to find a good home for his instrument. That’s when they told me about the fire. By the way, this viola is now being played by Paul Laraia. I heard Paul referring to his viola as “The Phoenix”. You can hear Paul and his viola in an interview with Masumi Rostad on the Sound Post series. 

Opus352,16.5” rubenesque. Another customer’s house was burglarized and some valuables taken, including her viola. She asked me for an immediate replacement, saying she wanted a viola in the same size and model. I happened to have a viola available which I had purchased back from a customer (he had needed the money to help with his father’s hospital bills). After she played the viola for about six months, her original one was recovered by the police. She was happy to go back to playing her original viola again and sold the “replacement” viola to a fellow violist who then became friends with the original owner.

Opus 206, violin. There was a violinist in Philadelphia who was attacked by two guys who grabbed her violin. She injured her finger badly while she tried hard not to let the thieves take her instrument. This beautiful violin turned up in Colorado years later. I met the owner for the first time last summer. She took a summer festival job in Allentown, PA in order to see me and have her violin checked over.

Opus 137. The following is the story of what happened to Sarah Adam’s viola. After it was stolen, Sarah immediately asked me to make her another one. The day before I was planning on contacting her to say that the new viola was ready for her to try, I received a phone call. A dealer in the Midwest asked me what the current price for my violas was. I was taken aback since, as far as I knew, none of my violas were in shops for sale around the country. I asked him some specifics about the instrument and, after he described the viola, I knew it was Sarah’s.

-Hiroshi Iizuka

Here is Sarah’s story (in her own words):

I am struggling to find a way to relate this story without seeming idiotic or irresponsible. My lizuka viola was stolen along with a violin from my friend Joe's car which we were standing in sight of in a park on the south side of Chicago.It was Sunday, August 16th, 1987.

I had taken a break from practicing and we stopped at the park on the way to eat. I had
taken a plane from Aspen to go to my cousin's wedding the day before and had an early flight back to Aspen on Monday.

As we stood by the car in the overwhelming heat, we were approached by a polite gentleman offering us information about the sculpture near us. While he kept our heads turned away from the car, an accomplice quickly removed our instruments from the back seat and disappeared. (It was such a hot day we could not keep the instruments in the trunk, and the car windows were open.) He must have been a very good talker, and I was a very obliging gullible tourist. When we realized they were missing, I panicked and explained to my friend what I had just lost. It felt like my arm was taken. Maybe both arms. I was scared and devastated and strangely paralyzed.

I only experienced theft like this two other times. Once in Rome, someone quietly stole my babies' cooler while I was busy tying their shoes. Another time I had my purse snatched when someone backed off the bus in front of me and an accomplice pushed close behind me. I bet there is a term for this kind of maneuver- bait and switch?
It still makes you feel like you were stupid and a victim.

We called the police and went to the precinct to make the report. I called Hiroshi and asked him if he was sitting down. After he digested the news, he told me that he would begin work on a new viola to be made from the same piece of wood as my stolen viola. And that he had a viola I could use in the meantime. People like
Hiroshi, with this kind of warmth, understanding and generosity, do not walk the earth very frequently.

I alerted Clarion insurance company, called my family and teachers in Aspen, and started calling all pawn shop numbers in Chicago. My friend Joe, who was not so attached to his violin, was happy to get his insurance money and replace his instrument. But seeing how distraught I was, he made a methodical plan and called and visited every pawn shop in Chicago over the next few days. 

I flew back to Aspen the next day, having missed the early flight. I missed my rehearsal for Chamber orchestra. I was miserable. George Mester lent me his viola for the rest of the summer until September when I was to show up at Juilliard for my year of Professional Studies. 

In September, Clarion paid me the $ my viola was insured for, and for my bow, a Geza Balint, made by the Hungarian Cleveland bowmaker.

Apparently the pawnshop owners kept the instruments hidden when Joe visited, because they did not turn up in his search. They were apparently bought later by a gypsy violinist from Cleveland, who later sold the viola, or gave it on consignment, to his luthier friend in Kansas City. By this time, at least eight months later, Hiroshi called me to tell me the new viola was finished and when could I come to Philadelphia and pick it up?

A violist in Kansas City Symphony looked at the viola in the shop and decided he wanted to buy it. Not sure that the price he was quoted was correct, he called the name inside the viola. Hiroshi told him it was a stolen instrument and not for sale. After I got the message from Hiroshi, I called Clarion and explained that the viola was found and I would be sending their money back. The nice people at Clarion offered to pay a reward to those who helped get the viola back to me, and pay for my flight to Kansas City to pick up my viola.

So I gave reward money to both the violist in the symphony and the luthier, stayed in Kansas City with a friend from Aspen, returned the insurance money to Clarion, and came back to Hiroshi to decide which one of the three Ilzuka violas I should take home with me. The original, the one he had just made, or the viola I had played on all year. Unable to decide on my own, I took all 3 to Karen Tuttle, and played them all for her. She helped me settle on my own original viola.

There are all sorts of side stories related to this tale. But those might make it more into a novel.

-Sarah Adams
 

Sarah with her Iizuka viola

You can read about Scott's Iizuka story here.

Do you have any interesting viola-related stories to tell? Let us know….maybe we'll post them here on the blog!