Born in Cremona in 1967, he began at the age of only ten to devote his life to music and working with wood, spending time in the workshop of his uncle, a restorer, and in Cremonese violinmaking circles in 1978/79. In the early eighties he enrolled in the “Antonio Stradivari” violinmaking school of Cremona, and while there his manual flair became evident.
He obtained a scholarship from the “Walter Stauffer” Foundation to construct a harp guitar.He gained his diploma in 1986 under the guidance of Maestro Ezio Scarrini. During his time at school, he frequented and worked with various Cremonese violinmakers, including Massimo Negroni, Riccardo Bergonzi, Lorenzo Marchi and Primo Pistoni, becoming steadily more skilled. But the most important of his masters was undoubtedly Pierangelo Balzarini, with whom he worked for five years from 1990 to 1995. In these years his constructional, easthetic ans acoustic techniques improved greatly and he achieved professional maturity.
Between 1985 and 1988 he took part in various exhibitions, shows and national competitions, obtaining third prize for a viola at Bagnocavallo.
In the nineteen nineties he began to take part in international competitions, and in 1994 he came 2nd with a violin 7th International Triennial in Cremona, and was also awarded a diploma and medal and the prize for the most valuable violin from the acoustic standpoint.
He took part in other competitions, such as the “Mittenvald”, obtaining 3rd place, and received recognitions, including a certificate for the construction of a cello in 1996/97 in America at the VSA.
From 2000 to 2005 he taughtat the violinmaking school of Cremona as an external expert, holding courses for advanced classes on the technical and stylistic aspects of the construction of the scroll.
He favours very well seasoned woods, especially for the construction of copies, aiming for an antique sound in the acoustics.
Continually in search of new styles and models, he produces instruments with various aesthetic characteristics, interpreting violinmakers both of the seventeen hundreds (Ornati, Garimberti…), so that each instrument is unique and personal, without ever departingfrom the classic lines of Italian violinmaking. He owns various original models of great violinmakers of the twentieth century, such as Garimberti and Stefanini, and many moulds, both for violins and violas. He has used varnishes of all kinds (alcohol, mixed, oil-based), and has sent much time studying them. He uses pigments that he extracts himself, making his varnish warm and naturally, usually of an orange colour on a glit background. His ultimate preference is for oil.
Born in Cremona in 1967, he began at the age of only ten to devote his life to music and working with wood, spending time in the workshop of his uncle, a restorer, and in Cremonese violinmaking circles in 1978/79. In the early eighties he enrolled in the “Antonio Stradivari” violinmaking school of Cremona, and while there his manual flair became evident.
He obtained a scholarship from the “Walter Stauffer” Foundation to construct a harp gui...
Fabio,Volta
