Violinist to play loaner Strad

David Garrett, whose fashion model looks have led him to be dubbed the David Beckham of the violin, will be lent a Stradivarius to play at a Valentine Day’s concert tonight at the Barbican Centre in London. It will replace his own priceless Strad, which he accidentally smashed after a concert there Dec. 27.

“People said it was as if I’d trodden on a banana skin,” the German-born violinist, 26, told London’s Evening Standard on Wednesday. “I fell down a flight of steps and onto the case. When I opened it the violin was in pieces. I was just sitting there on the floor, I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t get up. I didn’t even know if I was hurt -- I didn’t care. I’ve had that violin for eight years. It was like losing a friend.”

Garrett will be lent a 1718 Stradivarius by the London violin dealers J&A; Beare. Garrett’s instrument, also a 290-year-old Stradivarius, will cost about $118,000 to repair.

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