Musician Scott Lykins has been reunited with his $40,000 cello, which disappeared from his vehicle and turned up nearly two weeks later in a community garden.
The cello, two bows and the instrument's case were stolen from Lykins' SUV between 1 and 8 a.m. on March 12 while it was parked in the 3300 block of Hennepin Avenue S. in Minneapolis.
Thanks to a tip on Friday generated by a police appeal made through the news media, Lykins said, the cello, the bows and the case were found in a community garden in south Minneapolis.
"I was a little bit nervous about the condition it was in," said Lykins, artistic director for the annual Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd. "I opened up the case, and the cello is fine, and the bows were in there. The cello is still in tune."
Lykins, who grew up in the Brainerd area and now lives in South St. Paul, acknowledged that the SUV might have been left unlocked while he was with friends celebrating his 26th birthday. He said that it's not a vehicle he often drives and that he was unfamiliar with how it locks.
Lykins bought the cello in 2007 from maker James McKean of Connecticut and has been playing it three to four hours every day since. It was insured.
He had to get a substitute cello to do an audition last week in Rochester, N.Y., and "it went pretty well," though he won't know its outcome for a few weeks.
PAUL WALSH
