Stradivari Died on this Day 278 Years Ago – But Which Violinist Now Plays on Which?

Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari died on this day in 1737 – 278 years ago.

A protege of Nicolo Amati, it is estimated that Stradivari made approximately 1100 string instruments in his lifetime - with around 650 having survived today.

But who now plays on which?

• Itzhak Perlman (1714 Soil)
• Leonidas Kavakos (1962 Falmouth)
• Gil Shaham (1699 Countess Polignac)
• Frank Peter Zimmermann (1711 Lady Inchiquin)
• Joshua Bell (1713 Gibson ex-Huberman)
• Ivry Gitlis (1713 Sancy)
• James Ehnes (1715 Marsick)
• VC 'Artist' Ray Chen (1715 Joachim)
• VC 'Young Artist' Fedor Rudin (1680 Paganini-D'Annunzio)
• VC 'Young Artist' Timothy Chooi (1717 Windsor Weinstein)
• Janine Jansen (1727 Baron Deurbroucq )
• Maxim Vengerov (1727 Kreutzer)
• Gidon Kremer (1734 Baron Feilitzsch)

• Anne-Sophie Mutter (1703 Emiliani)

• Anne-Sophie Mutter (1710 Lord Dunn-Raven)
• Julian Rachlin (1704 ex-Liebig)
• Akiko Suwanai (1714 Dolphin)
• Vadim Gluzman (1689 Auer)
• Alex Kerr (1692 Falmouth)
• VC 'Artist' Nikki Chooi (1700 Taft)
• VC 'Young Artist' Francisco Fullana (1697 Rainville)
• VC 'Young Artist' Clara-Jumi Kang (1708 Strauss)
• Viktoria Mullova (1723 Jules Falk)
• Lorin Maazel (1722 Artot)
• Kristof Barati (1703 Lady Harmsworth)
• Isabelle Faust (1704 Sleeping Beauty)
• Jossif Ivanov (1699 Lady Tennant)
• Soovin Kim (1709 ex-Kempner)
• Svetlin Roussev (1710 Camposelice)
• Jennifer Koh (1684 ex-Elphinstone)
• Ryu Goto (1722 Jupiter)
• Frank Almond (1715 Lipinski)
• Philippe Quint (1708 Ruby)
• Cho-Liang Lin (1715 Titan)
• Arabella Steinbacher (1716 Booth)
• Elisabeth Pitcairn (1721 Red Mendelssohn)
• Nicola Benedetti (1717 Gariel)
• Gyorgy Pauk (1714 Massart)
• VC 'Young Artist' Chad Hoopes (1713 Cooper)
• VC 'Young Artist' Tobias Feldmann (1703)
• VC 'Young Artist' Caroline Goulding (1720 General Kyd)
• VC 'Young Artist' Tessa Lark (1683 ex-Gingold)
• VC 'Young Artist' Ji-Young Lim (1708 Huggins)
• David Garrett (1716 Ex-Busch)
• Lisa Batiashvili (1709 Engleman)
• Karen Gomyo (1703 ex-Foulis)
• VC 'Artist' Augustin Hadelich (1723 ex-Keisewetter)
• Baiba Skride (1725 Wilhelmj)
• Rudolf Koelman (1720 Woolhouse)
• Koh Kameda (1727 Holroyd)
• Corey Cerovsek (1728 Dragonetti-Milanollo)
• Pierre Amoyal (1717 Kochanski)
• Sayaka Shoji (1729 Recamier)
• Benjamin Schmid (1731 Lady Jeanne)
• Alexandre Da Costa (1667 Dubois)
• Yuki Manuela Janke (1736 Muntz)
• Alexandru Tomescu (1702 Lukens)
• Los Angeles Philharmonic (1729 ex-Jack Benny)
• Australian Chamber Orchestra (1728)
• Martin Beaver of the Tokyo String Quartet (1727 Paganini-Conte Cozio di Salabue)
• Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet (1680 Paganini-Desaint)
• Halle Orchestra (1695 Lincoln)
• Oslo Philharmonic (1689 Arditi)
• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (1687 Mercur-Avery)
• Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (1685 Eugenie)