Forty-five years ago, as a freshman in college, Cal Meineke was poking around a music department storage room and came across a rare Tyrolean violin made in the 17th century by the German Matthias ...

University of Texas student Sean Riley needed a violin to play a particular piece of music, but not one with the customary four strings. The piece called for an instrument with six strings. But ...

Paul Chou places the violin under his chin, and soon the bow is flitting over the strings at the speed of dragonfly wings. A snatch of melody from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” emerges. Then, some ol’-time ...