Charity busker returns to London
Updated on 24 October 2007
Violinist David Juritz has completed a fund-raising round-the-world busk in Downing Street.
In a four-month trip, Mr Juritz has raised £24,000 to fund music education for some of the world's poorest children.
The South African-born musician has performed in some of the world's greatest music venues as a soloist, guest artist and concertamster of the Mozart Players, but he performed Bach's solo violin works on his trip, reminding him of his student days at the Royal College of Music in London.
Mr Juritz came up with the idea earlier this year as an adventure to mark his 50th birthday.
He said: "It was a sort of crazy idea which once I had it was impossible to ignore and that was the idea of walking out my front door in London with just a violin and a back pack, no money, completely empty wallet, going down to the local tube station and seeing if I could earn enough money to get myself into the centre of London."
For the last 20 weeks, he has worked from 6am until midnight almost every day, playing in 50 cities spread across 24 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
He estimates that he has played more than two million notes, raising an average of £83 per day.
He said the audience in Berlin donated least money, just £7 on the day he spent there, while the best support came in London, where he earned more than £2,500 in a single outing.
Now Mr Juritz is hooked and admits he would like to busk more often.
He said: "There is something about playing on the street which is such fun, it's such a laugh you know, I've had a great time and I'm not going to be able to leave this behind, I imagine be doing it for a period every year from now on."
