Conductor Knocks Pavel Šporcl's Violin to the Floor During Concerto

The instrument was unharmed and Šporcl was able to finish his performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto

In a recent performance, the conductor Marko Ivanovic accidentally knocked the distinctive blue violin of Pavel Šporcl to the floor during a concert celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Mlada Boleslav Chamber Orchestra.

At the conclusion of the first movement of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, Ivanovic's gesture hit Šporcl's violin and it went flying.

Fortunately, Šporcl was able to bring his thigh up to the instrument to soften its fall. The instrument did not suffer significant damage, and the concert continued as scheduled.

Šporcl commissioned the instrument from the maker Jan Špidlen, asking for it to be blue to match his eyes.

"Only sheer luck and my lightning quick reactions prevented situation which could have resulted in a huge tragedy," Pavel told The Violin Channel. "All it took was a tenth of a second plus the tip of the conductor’s baton, and all that would be left of my precious blue violin was splinters. And that on such a beautiful occasion, as the performance of F. Mendellsohn-Bartholdy’s Concerto in E minor, which I played at the celebration of 60 years of existence of the Mlada Boleslav Chamber Orchestra.

"See, you never know what can happen. Fortunately, in this case, nothing major happened that would make it impossible to continue the concert and my career," he continued. "Except for the heart attack I almost got from it. In any case, I am very glad that everything turned out well and in a few days I will be able to present my beautifully playing blue violin to the audience in Israel, where I will be playing instead of Viktoria Mullova in the Beethoven Violin Concerto."

You can watch what happened below: