The Tree That Rocked The Music Industry

"Chicago Symphony Orchestra cellist Dan Katz has two cellos. The better one — the one he prefers to play with the orchestra — is 200 years old and has rosewood tuning pegs. When the orchestra went on an 11-concert European tour in January, he purposefully left it home."

"'I worry with that instrument about international travel now, because of those pegs,' Katz said after rehearsing for a performance of Schubert's Ninth Symphony earlier this month."

"'From my perspective, it just doesn't seem worth the risk,' he said. He worried that a customs agent somewhere might confiscate his cello."

"And he had reason to worry."