Top Contemporary Violin Makers of 2023
Back to BlogTop Contemporary Violin Makers of 2023
Let’s take a look at the Top Contemporary Violin Makers of 2023! Discover with us the highly sought-after violin makers who are captivating the hearts of professional musicians and music enthusiasts alike by creating instruments that enchant everyone that hears their sounds.
We’ll explore the exceptional talents behind some of the finest violins, violas, and cellos of our time. Take a look:
Luiz Amorim
From Cremona, Italy, the historic birthplace of violin-making, let’s start talking about our Amorim Fine Violins’ maker: Luiz Amorim
Luiz was born in Curitiba, Brazil. He dedicated his career looking forward to creating instruments with powerful sounds and doing his best to make natural and identical copies of master makers. His dream of transforming materials with his own hands and being completely immersed in the details of each production, material, and texture to keep improving became real.
Luiz Amorim is inspired by the great Italian violin makers of the past, especially Guarneri’ del Gesù.’ His inspiration for Guarneri started due to the expressiveness of his instruments. Luiz says, ‘Throughout the career of “del Gesù,” his work became increasingly expressive, especially at the end, when he managed to demonstrate his identity, as in a work of art.’
Guarneri did not produce an instrument like another, which clearly shows his inventive and free character, placing his identity in each of them. Unlike most of his colleagues at the time, he had expressive features that could be easily distinguished. Luiz believes it is essential to have this freedom of expression and not be tied to the aesthetic form. Guarneri was an artist, and he identified himself a lot for that.
“AN INSTRUMENT IS LIKE A BLANK CANVAS ON WHICH I CAN EXPRESS MY ARTISTIC FLAIR AS A MAKER.”
Fiorella Anelli
Another violin maker based in Cremona is Fiorella Anelli. Fiorella was born in Milan in 1981. She was always fascinated by music and soon became immersed in this magic by studying piano. Thanks to a precious suggestion, she visited the “School of Violin Making of Milan,” its enchanting, timeless atmosphere immediately fascinated her.
Violin making, a continuously evolving field where theory and practice interact with each other constantly in various disciplines, such as organology, physical acoustic, and varnish chemistry, became ideal after graduating from Scientific High School. In 2004 she got her degree from the School of Violin Making of Milan, where she was a student of M° Paola Vecchio, a student herself of M° Luca Primon. She also obtained a specialization in restoration techniques of string instruments.
The following year she moved to Cremona, where she worked as an assistant in various workshops, deepening her knowledge of the construction method, repairs, and sound adjustment. She graduated in Cremona in 2008 in the “Baroque Violin Making” course, studying the construction methods and the history of the ancient instruments while making some baroque violins, a viola da gamba, and their bows.
She makes instruments inspired by the old Cremonese tradition, and she cares a lot about the tonal qualities, the style, and the craft of her instruments in every detail, searching for a unique, powerful sound with a warm and rich tone. She uses oil varnish based on ancient recipes to create depth and a warm tone. She chooses only the finest and well-seasoned tonewoods, Val di Fiemme’s spruce, and Balcan’s maple, characterized by excellent acoustic quality.
Since 2017 she has been a member of the Cultural District of Violin in Cremona, a network that keeps the search for high-level violinmaking alive, defending its traditional know-how. Thanks to the District, she can participate continuously in varnish workshops, physics of acoustics, and many others. Also, she has had the opportunity to have in her hands and listen to violins from the “Museo del Violino,” including masterpieces of Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri.
Anna Arietti
Another female violin maker working in Cremona is the rising star, Anna Arietti. She makes violins, violas, and cellos that have their own beauty and sound with high-quality materials. They are also ”one-of-a-kind” built with comfort to play with a rich, warm low register and a powerful high end.
She believes in the beauty of imperfection, such as marks left by past tools, natural asymmetry, scratches, signs of age and use, and uneven varnish tones. These aspects could be seen as imperfections, but they can also make an instrument more unique and special. She believes that is why she loves to craft antique-style instruments.
Anna has always loved violins and started playing them at the age of 8 and has never stopped loving them and reaching for more until she decided that making violins would fulfill her heart too. She was born in South Korea, and to experience the world, in 2008 she began journeying across the United States. In 2011, she attended the world-renowned Antonio Stradivari School of Violin Making in Cremona and studied under Pier Luigi Aromatico Fantoni’s guidance. Upon graduating in 2015, she participated in several violin-making competitions and has garnered many achievements and awards.
Giovannetti and Schultz
We also met Andrea Giovannetti and Kyle Schultz during our journey of violin dealing in Italy. The two young and talented violin makers combined their knowledge and experience to create high-level instruments inspired by the work of Italian Masters.
Andrea was born in Florence and started playing the violin at a young age. He started attending an amateur violin maker workshop as a teenager. Still, he didn’t follow a complete career with violins until 2014 but kept studying violin making with his biology and natural sciences degrees.
After that, in 2014, he attended several courses, including one at the “Sandro Pertini” Professional Training Institute in Trento and the private tutelage of Master Maker Luca Primon. He was able to work as an apprentice for Master violin maker Andreas Hudelmayer in London, where he learned techniques in copying and antiquing. Giovannetti feels like violins are an act of creation, which fulfills his life with joy to keep producing them.
Kyle was born in South Africa and started at a young age, too; he also developed his fondness for the mechanics and history of the violin. He applied in 2018 to the internationally renowned Newark School of Violin Making and Repair, where he received a First-Class Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors. He kept studying world-renowned makers and restores that encouraged him to be the great maker he is now.
They make incredible pieces by combining their knowledge and constant searches about the best acoustic properties they can provide to the clients to play awesome music. They are two violin makers with a bright future ahead.
Lorenzo Frignani
We must remember to mention Lorenzo Frignani, an experience violin maker since 1986 working with the restoration of stringed and plucked instruments. He has been involved in the international music community for many years, training students too, and also received many awards and gold medals during his career.
He’s a President and belongs to ALI Professionals (Italian Association of Violin Makers Professionals) and ALADFI (French Bow Makers Association). He’s the Conservator of Stradivari guitar “Sabionari ” present at the Museum of the Cremona violin. He is currently developing new research on the face of conservation and cataloging of historical instruments.
In other words, an excellent reference for violin makers. He is inspired by classical Italian models focusing on traditions of the Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy regions. And he also says that caring about the selection of materials and paying attention to the varnish of his instruments are the main reasons they’re high quality.
As we go deep into the history of some top violin makers, one thing becomes evident: the significant meaning of references in the world of violin making goes far beyond technical and artistic mastery. Each violin created by these talented artisans is a masterpiece that transcends time, impacting lives in unimaginable ways.
These makers dedicate their lives to honing their craft, seeking perfection in every detail. These skilled people create instruments and shape the musical narratives of musicians and listeners worldwide. They impact lives daily, even unknowingly, providing the foundation for memorable moments and inspiring a passion for music in future generations.
The Workshop
Amorim Fine Violins is a violin, viola, and cello workshop based in Cremona. Our mission is to provide musicians with instruments so they can uniquely express themselves. We are a family business, just like the workshops of Stradivari and Guarneri. Founded in 2001 by the renowned violin maker Luiz Amorim and his wife, Betina Schreiner. We bring our fine arts experience into the violin-making field. .
