an experiment conducted by the Washington Post in 2007.17 The paper asked the internationally renowned violinist Joshua Bell to add an extra concert to his schedule of sold-out symphony halls. Armed with his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin, Bell pitched up at the top of an escalator in a metro station in Washington DC during morning rush hour, put a hat on the ground to collect donations and performed for 43 minutes. As the Washington Post put it, here was one of ‘the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable
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