In ‘Gone,’ Kym struggles after theft of her violin
Every aspect of life affected by loss of Stradivarius
It is a story that many in Milwaukee won’t soon forget. In January 2014, Frank Almond, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster, was attacked following a concert in Wauwatosa. The 1715 “Lipinski” Stradivarius violin he played was stolen. Ten days later it was recovered, the thieves arrested, and the centuries-old instrument was soon back in Almond’s hands and back onstage.
Almond’s story, while harrowing, had the best possible outcome — a happy ending for Almond, the violin’s owner and the “Lipinski”
In 2010, violinist Min Kym’s 1696 Stradivarius was stolen while she and her then-boyfriend were sitting in a café in London. While the theft was not violent like Almond’s (his is still the only armed robbery on record that targeted a specific Stradivarius), the lasting effects of Kym’s trauma and the loss of her beloved Stradivarius reverberated through every aspect of her life. Unfortunately, the end of her story with her Stradivarius is quite a bit different.
In her new memoir “Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung,” Kym offers a vivid, vulnerable portrayal of her life as a child prodigy, her early career, the events of that day in 2010 when her world crumbled around her and what happened after.
Born in South Korea, Min Kym’s family moved to London when she was young. Her father worked as a mechanical engineer for Daewoo — before it made cars. Her older sister had been taking piano lessons, and her mother asked the 6-year-old Kym what she wanted to play. She had two choices — the trumpet or the violin. She chose the violin.
Kym was a natural, and her teachers recognized her potential immediately. She was considered a prodigy and was the youngest student (at 7 years old) to be accepted at England’s Purcell School for Young Musicians. Kym recounts those early years of teachers, lessons and her family making sacrifices for her success — including making a permanent move to England from South Korea.
She introduces readers to a world of prodigies — discussing famous violinists like Jascha Heifetz and others — and the loss of childhood and the isolation that a child prodigy experiences. She brings up an interview in which the journalist asked her, “What’s it like to be a child prodigy?” The journalist wrote, “Min just looked at me blankly, clearly not understanding the meaning of the word.” She explains that she understood, but that is “a question that you dread, chasms of thought and doubt and confusion opening up at your feet.” She describes feeling abnormal, like an “alien.”
Kym offers a rare glimpse into the life of the soloist in the orchestra world as she excels in her field, from finding the right teachers to working with conductors, orchestras and orchestra leaders. She is a rising star.
Then she purchases her Stradivarius violin. She describes it as her soul mate, “I’d never felt like that with another human being, never said, ‘That’s it, you’re the one.’ But with the violin that’s exactly how I felt. You are the one.” Kym gives a beautiful description of the feeling of performing with a Stradivarius and often describes it as having feelings, using words like “temperamental,” “sensitive,” “stubborn.” “Get cross, treat it with impatience, and my violin would seize up, sulk. Be kind and it would respond with a generosity that were wings to my shoulders.”
Then, Kym recounts the day her beloved violin was taken in November 2010. It’s a fleeting moment in time — minutes really — and her violin is gone. While the authorities search for her Stradivarius, Kym sinks into a deep depression, unable to perform. She describes an intense loss of identity that was intertwined with her violin.
Slowly Kym begins to recover, and she starts a new chapter of her life as a violinist, though she is still haunted by the loss. Kym is left to discover who she is apart from her identity as a child prodigy, from her family, from those who want to control her career and from her violin.
Erin Kogler is director of communications for the Milwaukee Symphony.