Her name is Mu-Chen, and she is cultivating her extraordinary talent at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
Her violin is her most important possession, both materially and emotionally. So imagine the personal crisis Mu-Chen is having after leaving the violin on the bus that brought her from Boston to Philadelphia.
The Taiwanese violin student is modest about her skills, and believe it or not, the instrument she plays is worth a whopping $172,000, and it is missing.
Mu-Chen Hsieh says late Tuesday night she left the one of a kind 1835 Italian made violin in the overhead compartment of a Megabus outside 30th Street station.
"It was a long ride, and I was really tired, and that's why I forgot it. And then I realized it about 30 minutes afterwards," said Mu-Chen.
But it was too late; the bus was gone and so was the expensive violin.
The 19 year old studies music at the New England conservatory in Boston, and she was traveling back to Philadelphia to spend the holidays with her host family.
Police tracked down the Megabus Mu-Chen was on, but did not find the violin, which was on loan to the student from the Chi Mei culture foundation of Taiwan.
"It belongs to one of the largest violin foundation in the world. And obviously they are concerned that someone may have possession of this and may not know that they have," said Lt. John Walker.
Mu-Chen is an award winning violinist who has been playing since she was three.
She attended Delaware County Christian School and studied her craft at Temple University last year.
She says the $172,000 mistake could cost her career.
"I really hope that the person that took it can give it back to me so that I can continue my studies," said Mu-Chen.
