Famed violin makes local debut this weekend

Anne Akiko Meyers realizes there's pretty much one thing people want to talk to her about these days: the 1697 Stradivarius violin she acquired in October for a record-setting $3.6 million, an instrument that might have once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte.

Though Meyers has enchanted audiences and critics with her virtuosic playing since age 11 when she was featured twice on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," the 40-year-old concert violinist, who relocated to Austin in 2009, garnered a wholly different type of popular attention when she purchased the rare violin, known as the "Molitor" Stradivarius, because its longest owner was the family of a general in Napoleon's army, Count Gabriel-Jean-Joseph Molitor.

"I feel like I'm walking around with a big red flag over my head that says 'Hi, I'm the one with the Molitor,' " Meyers said with a laugh over lunch last week.

The instrument will have its Austin debut Friday, Feb. 18, and Saturday, Feb. 19, when Meyers is a guest soloist with the Austin Symphony Orchestra. She will play Prokoviev's lyrical yet fiery Violin Concerto No. 1.

Meyers wasn't in the market for a new violin when she first heard about the Molitor. For years, she has played on the 1730 "Royal Spanish" Stradivarius, once owned by the King of Spain. Then, while in New York last fall, she heard that the Molitor was up for sale.

It was love at first stroke of the bow.

"It has an extraordinary sound," said Meyers. "It's so clear, so piercing in its purity."

Lest the "Royal Spanish" feel bested by its older sibling, Meyers says she plans to keep both instruments. In fact, she will play both when she records Bach's Double Violin Concerto later this year, for her 24th CD.

"Each violin has its strengths and each brings a whole different dimension to a piece," she said.

Sources differ on who the first owner of the Molitor Stradivarius was — either Napoleon or the Parisian socialite and famous arts patron Madame Juliette Récamier , who held a fashionable salon that was frequented by the elite of Napoleonic France. In any event, in 1804, the violin passed from Récamier to Molitor, whose family kept the instrument for nearly a century. By 1929, the violin had crossed the Atlantic when the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia acquired it to lend to their promising students. American violinist Elmar Oliveira owned the violin for a brief period in the 1990s.

"I wish I could have been a fly on the wall as (this instrument) passed through history," Meyers said. "What if (American composer) Samuel Barber heard it when he was at Curtis? What if Napoleon said something to it?"

In the usually discrete world of marquee classical musicians — where sales of one-of-a-kind instruments are usually handled privately — news of Meyers' purchase of the Molitor Stradivarius at a publicized sale at Tarisio, a New York-based online rare instrument auctioneer, attracted considerable attention.

(The previous record for a musical instrument sold at auction was $3.54 million for a 1707 Stradivarius in 2006.) Headlines popped worldwide; Meyers was invited to play her new violin on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

Not that the time in the spotlight was anything new for the seasoned performer.

Meyers' career began early. Born in San Diego in 1970, the daughter of an academic administrator father and Tokyo-born artist mother, Meyers began studying the violin at age 4. By 11, she had appeared on Carson's show twice and debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A year later, she played with the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta conducting.

Studies at the Juilliard School followed as the teen continued concertizing around the world. At 18, she made her solo recording debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. By 20, her Juilliard studies finished, she had signed a multiple-record contract with RCA and embarked on career that has seen her performing around the world appearing with top orchestras and chamber groups.

Those who have collaborated with her, such as lauded Austin pianist Anton Nel, remark on her singular style. "Anne is a beautiful violinist," said Nel. "She is someone who can easily and fearlessly perform standard repertoire, as well as contemporary music, and even cross over into popular styles."