Replacing Kai's Stolen Violin
Donation protected
My name is Michael Cole. My Chilean wife, Maike, and I are trying to help out her parents and younger brother named Kai Bryngelson. Kai just happens to be a violin prodigy, who is very passionate about music and works so hard at making his dream of playing the violin works extremely hard in pursuit of his dream of someday playing professionally. Kai and his parents live in Southern Chile in the region known as Patagonia, a place that I once worked as a fly fishing guide and where I met my wife. For Kai, living in Patagonia is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it is a land of raw nature and beauty. Its also a curse because for him to follow his dreams, he must travel a lot to Santiago in Central Chile (1000 miles from his home) and yearly to the United States to get instruction and attend prestigious music camps. Another struggle is with his equipment. He plays at a level where he needs high end violins, bows and strings. His parents work so hard to make ends meet so that he can go and train with the best instructors and so that he has the best/right violin to match his abilities This is where I am seeking help.
On December 2nd Kai and my mother-in-law, also named Maike, were returning home from a very important audition for a competition for younger talents at the Universidad de Concepcion. This audition was for an national competition to find the best young musicians in Chile. Kai was named one of four finalist and is set to play a violin solo on March 5 with the Orquesta Sinfonica Universidad de Concepcion, where one of the four will be named the best in Chile. What's special about this is that Kai is by far the youngest musician at age 14 and the only violinist selected for the competition. For Kai, whose birthday was two days later, was heading home with great sense of pride and achievement, was looking forward to his 14th birthday party.
After the two day audition, they were traveling by bus from Concepcion, where the audition was held, to Puerto Montt where they would catch a commercial flight to their home town called Coyhaique. When they arrived in Puerto Montt's main bus station, they had to transfer to an airport shuttle bus. They were the first to board the shuttle and they stored their bags, including Kai's Violin, in an over-head storage. Many more passenger got on and right before the bus was to leave to the airport, one young male passenger got up, grabbed his bag from the baggage area and got off. What Maike and Kai didn't see was this guy used his bag to hide the violin as he pulled his bag out. It wasn't until the bus arrived to the airport that they realized the guy had stolen it. They reported it to the police, but by then it was already too late. This incident went on to make Chilean national news, but so far no leads have come of it.
Here a link to one of the newspaper stories about the theft: Lun Article
His violin was a Francesco Ligetti from Italy.
It had Perfection fine tuner pegs and Evah Pirazzi strings. Bonmusica shoulder rest. It was in a blue Tonarelli fiberglass case. He had two pernambuco wood brazilian bow's, one was a Lamy Replica, made by Cyrillo, the other was made by Chagas, both from Arcos Brazil. The value of everything stolen was close to $10,000. All violins of this level are one of a kinds, replacing this one is hard. The company from which Kai received his violin has been working with him and his parents to replace it with one of similar style and sound. The replacement violin will be an Atelier Monteverde, Cremona from Italy with a Replica Special Silver violin bow by Manoel Francisco. This violin along with the bow, strings and case will cost over $10,000.
We are hoping to have Kai's violin replaced as soon so that he has time to become well acquainted with is new violin before the March 5th competition. Before the competition, Kai has been selected to be a student at the Masterclass with the violinist Mayumi Seiler January at the Escuela de Musica Papageno, Villarrica. He is also applying to the summer camp at the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar in February 2016 as well as applying to the Meadowmount School of Music 2016 in the upper state of New York. Please help my family and me heal Kai's broken heart and dreams. The goal is a large sum, but every little bit helps and if we surpass the goal amount, the money will be used to help pay for travel and schooling. Thank you much and blessing for you time and consideration. Below I have included a little more about Kai.
Here is Kai's audition if you would like to see him performing:
KAI BRYNGELSON - BIOGRAPHY
Kai Bryngelson Perl, 14 years old, was born in the Patagonian town of Coyhaique, Chile, began playing violin at age seven. Kai is an 8th grade student at the Liceo San Felipe Benicio in Coyhaique, Region de Aysen and is one of the best students of his class.
Since 2010 he has played with the Orquesta Sinfonica Juventil for the Region of Aysen and concertmaster since 2014.
Kai also plays with the Orquesta Sinfonica Municipal of Coyhaique where he is assistant concertmaster.
Since 2011 he has participated in the Music Camp at Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile and this past summer was selected as concertmaster.
Kai also participated in the Curso Magistral de Musica de Camara Internacional at Teatro del Lago for 3 years and was the youngest student accepted.
In 2014 he was a winner in the Junior Honors Recital Competition at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan
Kai was a national finalist at the V Concurso Jovenes Talentos 2015 in Concepcion, Chile and performed a solo of De Beriot violin concerto No. 9, Op. 104 with the Orquesta Sinfonica Universidad de Concepcion.
Winner at the Concurso Jovenes Solistas 2015 Fundacion de Orquestas Juveniles de Chile, FOJI.
Kai was recently named national finalist at the VI Concurso Jovenes Talentos de la Corporacion Cultural Universidad de Concepcion.
Kai has studied with several accomplished instructors in Chile and the US:
Faina Poldonaya (Ashland, OR), Elena Batrakova (Valparaiso, Chile), Kenneth Freed (Minnesota Orchestra), Aaron Janse (Minnesota Orchestra), Marcin Arendt (Interlochen 2013, 2014), Walter Schwede (Meadowmount 2015) and Frida Ansaldi (Universidad Catolica Santiago, Chile).
With no violin instructors available where Kai now lives, he must travel 1,000 miles to Santiago for instruction.
On December 2nd Kai and my mother-in-law, also named Maike, were returning home from a very important audition for a competition for younger talents at the Universidad de Concepcion. This audition was for an national competition to find the best young musicians in Chile. Kai was named one of four finalist and is set to play a violin solo on March 5 with the Orquesta Sinfonica Universidad de Concepcion, where one of the four will be named the best in Chile. What's special about this is that Kai is by far the youngest musician at age 14 and the only violinist selected for the competition. For Kai, whose birthday was two days later, was heading home with great sense of pride and achievement, was looking forward to his 14th birthday party.
After the two day audition, they were traveling by bus from Concepcion, where the audition was held, to Puerto Montt where they would catch a commercial flight to their home town called Coyhaique. When they arrived in Puerto Montt's main bus station, they had to transfer to an airport shuttle bus. They were the first to board the shuttle and they stored their bags, including Kai's Violin, in an over-head storage. Many more passenger got on and right before the bus was to leave to the airport, one young male passenger got up, grabbed his bag from the baggage area and got off. What Maike and Kai didn't see was this guy used his bag to hide the violin as he pulled his bag out. It wasn't until the bus arrived to the airport that they realized the guy had stolen it. They reported it to the police, but by then it was already too late. This incident went on to make Chilean national news, but so far no leads have come of it.
Here a link to one of the newspaper stories about the theft: Lun Article
His violin was a Francesco Ligetti from Italy.
It had Perfection fine tuner pegs and Evah Pirazzi strings. Bonmusica shoulder rest. It was in a blue Tonarelli fiberglass case. He had two pernambuco wood brazilian bow's, one was a Lamy Replica, made by Cyrillo, the other was made by Chagas, both from Arcos Brazil. The value of everything stolen was close to $10,000. All violins of this level are one of a kinds, replacing this one is hard. The company from which Kai received his violin has been working with him and his parents to replace it with one of similar style and sound. The replacement violin will be an Atelier Monteverde, Cremona from Italy with a Replica Special Silver violin bow by Manoel Francisco. This violin along with the bow, strings and case will cost over $10,000.
We are hoping to have Kai's violin replaced as soon so that he has time to become well acquainted with is new violin before the March 5th competition. Before the competition, Kai has been selected to be a student at the Masterclass with the violinist Mayumi Seiler January at the Escuela de Musica Papageno, Villarrica. He is also applying to the summer camp at the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar in February 2016 as well as applying to the Meadowmount School of Music 2016 in the upper state of New York. Please help my family and me heal Kai's broken heart and dreams. The goal is a large sum, but every little bit helps and if we surpass the goal amount, the money will be used to help pay for travel and schooling. Thank you much and blessing for you time and consideration. Below I have included a little more about Kai.
Here is Kai's audition if you would like to see him performing:
KAI BRYNGELSON - BIOGRAPHY
Kai Bryngelson Perl, 14 years old, was born in the Patagonian town of Coyhaique, Chile, began playing violin at age seven. Kai is an 8th grade student at the Liceo San Felipe Benicio in Coyhaique, Region de Aysen and is one of the best students of his class.
Since 2010 he has played with the Orquesta Sinfonica Juventil for the Region of Aysen and concertmaster since 2014.
Kai also plays with the Orquesta Sinfonica Municipal of Coyhaique where he is assistant concertmaster.
Since 2011 he has participated in the Music Camp at Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile and this past summer was selected as concertmaster.
Kai also participated in the Curso Magistral de Musica de Camara Internacional at Teatro del Lago for 3 years and was the youngest student accepted.
In 2014 he was a winner in the Junior Honors Recital Competition at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan
Kai was a national finalist at the V Concurso Jovenes Talentos 2015 in Concepcion, Chile and performed a solo of De Beriot violin concerto No. 9, Op. 104 with the Orquesta Sinfonica Universidad de Concepcion.
Winner at the Concurso Jovenes Solistas 2015 Fundacion de Orquestas Juveniles de Chile, FOJI.
Kai was recently named national finalist at the VI Concurso Jovenes Talentos de la Corporacion Cultural Universidad de Concepcion.
Kai has studied with several accomplished instructors in Chile and the US:
Faina Poldonaya (Ashland, OR), Elena Batrakova (Valparaiso, Chile), Kenneth Freed (Minnesota Orchestra), Aaron Janse (Minnesota Orchestra), Marcin Arendt (Interlochen 2013, 2014), Walter Schwede (Meadowmount 2015) and Frida Ansaldi (Universidad Catolica Santiago, Chile).
With no violin instructors available where Kai now lives, he must travel 1,000 miles to Santiago for instruction.
Organizer and beneficiary
Michael Cole
Organizer
Juneau, AK
Rex Bryngelson
Beneficiary