L.A. Opera cellist’s $100,000 instrument, stolen from Mission Valley hotel, found and returned

Faculty and students at an elite international summer music camp held in San Diego erupted in cheers Monday when they learned that an instructor’s stolen cello — a custom instrument worth $100,000 — had been found undamaged.

John Walz, a principal cellist with the Los Angeles Opera, picked up the cello Monday from a Chula Vista woman’s living room, where she’d been keeping it safe since her son found it Friday discarded on a downtown San Diego street corner.

“Oh my God, the whole faculty, all the students, we were just screaming in the office,” said Stanny Shiu, the founder and executive director of the Bravo! International Music Academy, an exclusive two-week program for cellists, violinists, pianists and other talented musicians held on the San Diego State University campus.

“Losing an instrument like that is like losing your arm,” Shiu said. “It’s one of a kind, like your baby. You play it every day. It’s not replaceable. That was the heartbreaking part.”

Walz’s custom cello was stolen Wednesday night, just after he arrived in San Diego to instruct the 60 or so summer campers, who came to the academy from cities across the U.S. and as far as Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Walz, an accomplished cellist who performs as a soloist and in the group Pacific Trio, had said on Facebook that he checked into his room Wednesday night at the Town and Country San Diego, went out to dinner, and when he returned, his room had been burglarized.

“Everything stolen — including my cello,” he wrote. “I’m still in shock.”

Police said the suspect or suspects forced their way into the unoccupied guest room between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. and made off with several items, including the custom cello made by Mario Miralles of Altadena,who is a well-known maker of stringed instruments.

Walz’s Thursday morning Facebook post had been shared and commented on several hundred times by Thursday evening. That same afternoon, San Diego County Crime Stoppers issued a news release asking for the public’s help to locate the instrument.

The next day, a man discovered the cello, still in its case, discarded near Ash Street and Third Avenue in downtown San Diego, Shiu said. The man took it to his mother’s Chula Vista home, where they soon found news reports about the theft and realized the cello’s value.

On Saturday morning, they began effort to return the cello to its rightful owner, but their attempts to reach Walz and the police were unsuccessful until Monday, when they got in touch with the world-renowned cellist on Facebook. They let him know they had his instrument, setting off the wild celebration at SDSU.

“It is in perfect condition,” Shiu said. “We wonder if the gentleman who found it is a musician, because he knew how to take care of it. There was not a scratch on it.”

Shiu said she felt terrible last week when the cello went missing while Walz was in her hometown for her music academy. She was equally as joyful Monday when Walz was reunited with the handcrafted cello.

She and Walz were also extremely grateful to the man who found the instrument and spent the weekend trying to get it back to them.

“We would love to meet him or have him come out to see a performance,” Shiu said. “I want to ask if he’s a musician, because he obviously knew the value of this. And we want to thank him for taking such good care of it and be willing to return it.”

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

8:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 5:45 p.m.