May 07, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

NEW YORK: A Grammy-nominated violinist who left his $4 million, 285-year-old Stradivarius violin in a taxi is giving a free concert at an airport taxi stand for the driver who returned it.

Philippe Quint, 34, left his 1723 “Ex-Keisewetter” violin in Mohammed Khalil’s taxi when returning from Newark Liberty Airport last week, and Khalil later returned it to Quint, the musician’s publicist said.

Quint was to repay Khalil and his fellow taxi drivers with a 30-minute recital on Tuesday at the taxi holding area at Newark Liberty, one of three airports serving the New York City metropolitan area.

After his airport concert, Quint will next perform on the Stradivarius in New York at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall on September 23. He is providing tickets for that concert to Khalil and his family, the publicist said.—Reuters