Violins need to be played. I hate to see a superb instrument get snapped up by a collector who merely displays it instead of lending it to musicians. In Cremona, Italy, where the legendary violinmakers worked their magic, the city hall’s violin museum is home to a small group of instruments that would be the envy of any collector. And Andrea Mosconi, the city’s musical conservationist, has a job would be the envy of any violinist. He is paid to play the museum’s three Amati violins, two Guarneris and three Stradivarii. There’s also a Stradivarius cello, but Mosconi contracts that job out to some lucky young cellist. Every day except Sunday and August vacation, Mosconi exercises each of the eight violins with equal care — he claims to have no favorite. (NY Times article)