Mein Profil

When I began my formal apprenticeship in violinmaking as a teenager at the Cremona Violinmaking School, string instruments were an obsession for me. Having played the violin since childhood, the tonal aspects of my violinmaking came naturally. Those youthful years in Italy further shaped an aesthetic sensibility that to this day guides the personal look of my instruments. Working now at ALF STUDIOS in Ann Arbor, Michigan, my violin making continues to evolve through a careful study of the rare Italian instruments that pass through my shop and from an ongoing dialogue with the concert artists who own them. While honouring the Italian traditions of the past, I look to science and innovation for the guidance and the inspiration I need to make even better instruments in the future. As a violinmaker, I feel exceptionally open about sharing my craft. I present regularly at schools across the United States and Europe and many of my apprentices have gone on to distinguished careers of their own. I am also most grateful for Institutions like the Royal Academy, the Amati Foundation, Dextra Musica, and the Maestro Foundation, who through their collections, loan my instruments to gifted players. Although my happiest hours are those spent quietly at the workbench, my professional life is quite full. Besides frequent trips for wood hunting or some study project, I have served as a workmanship judge at past VSA Violinmaking Competitions, and at the First Violinmaking Competition in China. I am the US delegate to EILA, the International Entente of violin and bow makers, and have recently returned from Parma, Italy where I served on the Scientific Committee of an exhibition celebrating the 300th birth anniversary of G.B. Guadagnini. Such experiences have broadened my vision for both the current state of our craft and for its future. My goals are to promote a new climate of openness between colleagues and a return to personal models that look to the future while honouring the traditions of our craft. I am living now with his family in the historic center of Venice and feel very happy for the chance to give back to Italy the schooling I received years ago.