The 'Adelaide' Guadagnini - A Violin Beloved in Australia

By Andy Fein, Luthier, Fein Violins
and Ivana Truong

In early February, a 1753-1757 Guadagnini violin was given on a 3-year loan to Australian violinist Natsuko Yoshimoto. Guadagnini, who we have written about previously, is considered one of the greatest Italian makers, only exceeded by Stradivarius and Del Gesu.

Natsuko Yoshimoto with 1752-57 Guadagnini "The Adelaide"

Photo by Claudio Raschella

An American in Paris

By Andy Fein and Martha McDermott

Not many pieces of classical music can claim to have inspired a series of ballets, movies, and musicals, but Gershwin's 'An American in Paris' has done all of that!

An American in Paris played by LA Phil conducted by Gustavo Dudamel

The Piedmont Region and its Violin Makers

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
Matt Lammers and Amy Tobin

Here in America, we tend to think that we have the monopoly on the idea of 'the great melting pot.' When the rest of the world began their exodus to 'the new world,' New York became an amalgamation of peoples and cultures from everywhere else. We can not, however, lay claim to this phenomenon. In fact, the Piedmont region of Italy was a melting pot of nationalities and cultures long before this happened on our own soil.

The Piedmont region of Italy includes

What viola do they play?

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins and Kevin Berdine

When you hear a violist, ever wonder "what viola are they playing?" We have compiled a small list of violas that famous musicians have played or continue to play.

Violists

William Primrose

1735 Nicolo Gagliano Violin
"ex-Primrose" Amati, now played by Roberto Diaz

1697 "ex-Lord Harrington" Guarneri, now called "ex-Primrose"

1950 William Moennig Jr. now played by Peter Pas

Yuri Bashmet

1758 Paolo Testore

Ida Kavafian

image from Curtis Institute of Music

1751 Guadagnini Violin

1987 Peter and Wendela Moes Viola

Atar Arad

images from his website

Nicolo Amati

Helen Callus

Gabrielle Kundert-Copy of the Primrose Amati

Roberto Diaz

ex-Primrose Amati

Kim Kashkashian

1617 Brothers Amati

Paul Neubauer

Nobuko Imai

Peter and Wendela Moes

Nils Monkemeyer

Peter Erben

Melia Watras

Samuel Zygmuntowicz Viola

Lionel Tertis 

1717 Domenico Montagnana (17 1/8 inches!) 

Lawrence Cocker "Tertis Model" viola

Are you a violist or interested in becoming one? Take a look at our Fine Violas!

French Influence On Italian Violin-Making

By Matt Lammers and Andy Fein, Luthier at Fein Violins

Many years ago I (Andy) was visiting the old Jacques Francais violin shop in New York and examining an Annibale Fagnola violin with the famous restorer and violin expert Rene' Morel. He held the violin up, looked directly at the scroll and exclaimed, "Isn't it remarkable how much the Italian makers learned from the French?"

A violin by Annibale Fagnola, Turin, circa 1925

Erica Morini and the Davidoff Stradivarius

By Andy Fein, Violin Maker and Owner, Fein Violins, Ltd.

In this era of so many great women violin soloists, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Rachel Barton Pine, Hilary Hahn, Lara St. John, Anne Akiko Meyers, Sarah Chang, Midori, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and many others, it's hard to imagine a time when being a woman violinist and trying to make it as a soloist was very, very difficult. Solely because you were female!

That time was not very long ago. The first half of the twentieth century was a rough time for women violinists and it stayed that way at least through the 1960s!

Lara St. John

By Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
 and Angie Newgren

One of our favorite violinists hails from Canada. A violinist who has mastered performances for a lifetime, Lara St John  has had a natural talent for the violin since she was young. Her talent bloomed into a career that has given people all over the world the opportunity to hear the true beauty of this instrument. 

How is her first name pronounced? As she says on her Facebook page, "Pronounced Lara. Exactly as spelled. (there is no 'u' in my given name). Like bar, like car, like star".

Lara St John

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Violin Maker of Piacenza, Milan, Cremona, Parma & Turin

Written by Andy Fein, luthier at Fein Violins
& Angie Newgren

Italy's Po River Valley figures prominently in the history of great violin-makers, as well as the Fein family history.

The towns of Cremona, Piacenza, Parma, Milan, and Turin are all beautiful towns along the Po, or one of its many tributaries. In 1944 and 1945, Bert Fein, Andy's father, along with thousands of other brave soldiers of the U.S. Tenth Mountain Division, and joined by local Appenine fighters, pushed the Nazi army out of the Appenine Mountains and other strongholds along the Po River.

About 230 years earlier, in the small village of Beligno, at the foot of the Appenine Mountains, Giovanni Battista (J.B.) Guadagnini was born on June 23, 1711. J.B.'s father Lorenzo was a violin maker, the first in a long line of violin makers that stretched into the twentieth century.