Famous Shreveport Native Plays On A Rare Cello His Grandfather Smuggled Out Of Austria In 1938

John-Henry Crawford speaks about his career as a cellist during an interview with The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate at his parents’ home in Shreveport, Louisiana, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Photo Credit: Jill Pickett, Staff Photographer of The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate

by Elizabeth Deal, The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate

The recent album released by award-winning cellist and Shreveport native John-Henry Crawford has been streamed over a million times, and he has more than 50,000 Instagram followers.

Crawford performs on a rare 200-year-old cello made of wood from the Bavarian Alps, smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather, Dr. Robert Popper. Popper was an amateur musician who lived on Beethoven Street in Innsbrook, and he evaded Kristallnacht, the Nazi wave of violence against the Jewish people, including in Austria, in 1938.