For one night in October, the James Monroe High School auditorium was home to one of the most famous violins in the world, and almost nobody knew it was coming.
Violinist Timothy Chooi joined the Fredericksburg Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 23 for Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, playing the 1714 “Dolphin” Stradivarius, the instrument famously associated with Jascha Heifetz. For security reasons, the orchestra didn’t announce the violin’s appearance in advance.
Even music director Kevin P. Bartram had to figure it out by ear…