March 19--For 10 years, Robert Rudolph Hasspacher has played a Russian-made viola with deep tones that he likens to "playing chocolate."
Hasspacher, a violist with the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra, among other groups, said he taught a lesson Wednesday afternoon before bringing the viola to the Civic Opera House where he was about to attend a performance of "Romeo and Juliet."
He said he handed the instrument over to the coat check clerk ahead of the Lyric Opera's production.
When the show ended, Hasspacher said he left the Loop auditorium to meet friends, only to remember he had left his viola and its black Cushy case behind in the cloakroom. When he returned to the opera house, the doors were locked.
Hasspacher, of Rogers Park, said he went to the stage door and was eventually able to contact staff, though when he produced the coat check ticket, his Vladimir Logashov viola was missing. After searching the opera house coatrooms, Hasspacher filed a report with Chicago police Wednesday at 11:30 p.m., according to a police spokeswoman.
"When I'm filing the police report, I'm crying. It's just absolutely devastating," Hasspacher, 30, told the Tribune Friday.
Hasspacher estimated the 17-inch viola's value at about $9,000, though he told the Tribune the instrument had not been recently appraised. Hasspacher said the viola was not insured.
No arrests have been made and the instrument remained missing as of Friday afternoon. Holly Gilson, Lyric Opera deputy director of communications, said staff combed through the building but did not find the viola.
"We're trying to help in every way we can, but it feels like we may have exhausted the avenues here," Gilson said.
Gilson said she had not heard of reports of theft from the coatroom before Hasspacher's claim.
Hasspacher, who goes by the stage name R. Rudolph and is "Rudy" to his friends, plans to rent instruments for future gigs as he contacts Logashov, the instrument maker, to see about purchasing another viola if his is not found.
In the meantime, he's left mourning the loss of his "one-of-a-kind" instrument. He said it was a "shot in the dark" finding it in 2005 in a Michigan shop, where he bought it for $6,500.
"It's a really nice instrument and I love it," Hasspacher said.
