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August 9, 2005Missing cello leaves big void for Interlochen studentInstrument valued at $9,500ByRecord-Eagle staff writer INTERLOCHEN - Josue Gonzales began playing the violin when he was 3, but it was the sight of the cello that caught the young boy's attention. "I knew the whole time I wanted to play cello," he said. "At my last concert when I was 3, I went to my friends and handed them my violin and said "I want my cello now, please.'" Gonzales, 18, is again longing for the string instrument after his $9,500 cello went missing last week at the Interlochen Arts Academy. "It was in the downstairs lobby," said Gonzales, who has been at the school for the last three years studying music. "Initially, it didn't even faze me that it was gone. People leave instruments everywhere and no one is afraid of anyone taking them. "I called everyone, from housekeeping to security, to see if it had just been moved or misplaced, but it is just gone," he said. Gonzales is scheduled to leave today for New York to spend time with his parents before traveling to Ohio, where he has been accepted at the Cleveland Institute of Music. "My parents are especially very sad about this," he said. "It was a huge sacrifice for them to buy me this instrument. They told me when this happened that they actually took out a second mortgage on their house to buy the instrument, which made me feel even worse." Kristin Drake, who has hosted Gonzales at her family's home for the summer, said the loss of the instrument is "devastating." "He is such a nice fellow who is so talented," she said. "This is just such an awful thing." Gonzales said the missing cello, which his parents bought in 2001, would be used until his mid-20s, when musicians usually purchase an instrument that will "make their career." Gonzales said his future teachers in Cleveland are "concerned" that he may be unable to practice music sent to him to make sure he is on track when he arrives at the conservatory. "(This cello) was particularly hard for me to get used to at the beginning," he said. "But my instrument was finally starting to open up and I was getting more familiar with it." Gonzales said he has contacted local music dealers to warn them of the missing instrument and is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who turns in the cello or provides information to the school or the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office about its whereabouts. "(Playing the cello) is the thing I most love to do in my entire life, the thing that I get the most pleasure from," he said. "What better to make a career out of something that gives you the most pleasure? "It is hard to make a career in music right now, but I would rather be poor and happy playing the cello than be dirty rich and doing something else," he said.
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