The violinist Stefan Jackiw has sportingly uploaded footage of the moment his $30.000 bow breaks while playing a vigorous portion of Ukrainian-born composer Reinhold Glière’s Violin Concerto. “I’ve had a string crack but never had a bow break,” Jackiw said in a report in the Times. “Most violinists in a lifetime of playing won’t have a bow snap.” Prior to failing, the bow had made it through over one thousand concerts and countless hours of practise. The mishap occurred during the UK premiere of Glière’s Violin Concerto with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

“As a half-Ukrainian, half-Korean musician, it was particularly meaningful for me to play this piece,” wrote Jackiw on his social media account. “About one/three of the way into the concerto, my trusty Voirin, suddenly snapped in two!” If it can’t be repaired, it'll be one less bow in the world made by the celebrated French archetier François Voirin (1833-1885), regarded as one of the most necessary makers of his time and whose bows fetch eye-watering prices when they hit the auction block. The record price for a Voirin bow? US$93.000.