Dr. James Robert Cade had so much joy in music he wanted to share it with everyone.
In the spirit of the late Dr. Cade, the inventor of Gatorade, The Cade Museum Foundation is loaning 30 antique violins and violas from Cade's personal collection to students enrolled in the UF School of Music.
"My dad was a big collector of violins," said Phoebe Cade Miles, his daughter and creator of the foundation. "It would be a shame to disassemble such a collection."
Miles grew up playing chamber music with her father. She played the piano while he played the violin.
"We often played Beethoven's Romance and his Spring Sonata," she said.
Cade left a large collection of antique violins and violas, which were of German and Italian make, to his family upon his death, which are now overseen by the Cade Museum Foundation. The oldest violin dates back to 1661.
"We choose which students to receive an instrument based on recommendations from their professors," said Cheryl Fisher, executive assistant to Phoebe Cade Miles. Once the students were chosen, they were allowed to choose their own instrument from the collection.
Fisher said students who accept an instrument have to play three public concerts during the year. Most of these concerts will be performed at the new Shands Cancer Hospital, as part of a program called "Shands Arts in Medicine."
Julie Nelson, a music education junior, was one of the first to receive an instrument, a violin that dates back to 1786. Nelson will be performing at her junior recital with the violin.
"I am very thankful and excited for the opportunity to play on such a high-quality instrument," she said. "My violin is new so it doesn't have the same rich quality of sound as an old violin."
