Q1. How did you come to start making violas?

 

Well, as a young maker, I imagined I would make more violins, as most makers do. So, decades ago, when I visited the Rivoltas in Desio, Northern Italy, near Milan, to buy a big wood stock, I mostly got violin and cello wood, and just a small amount of viola wood.

 

Then I went to a concert of the Guarneri Quartet, and took a violin and a viola to show to Arnold Steinhardt. He found the violin good, but loved the viola and called Michael Tree to see it. Michael loved the viola and said, “You know, there are few viola makers, and we need good violas, why don’t you dedicate yourself to viola making?”

 

I did that and, eventually, Michael Tree invited me to come to NYC with some violas that he played, gave me good advice, introduced me to other violists, and I started returning to NYC every year to meet him. He was a very generous man. In the first years he had no email, so we exchanged letters! Eventually his lovely wife used her email to help him. 

 

In NYC, I also met Toby Appel, Karen Dreyfus (and her husband Glenn Dicterow), they all gave me valuable advice. Whenever I met a good violist, I would ask “What can I do better?”

 

The great thing about being a viola maker is that violists are always willing to try contemporary violas.

 

Q2. What are your influences, inspirations?

 

I am a big fan of the violin makers of the Guarneri Family, Cremona. I also follow Renè Morel’s ideas about viola making, and that includes a fixed string length of 375 mm and a 15 cm. neck, I will use these measurements regardless of the size of the viola I make (15.5, 16, 16.3 and 16.5 inches). 

     

Q3. Are there any models or instruments you’ve made that you are most proud of, or would like the world to know more about? Why?

 

My model is based in Andrea Guarneri, the sound box in the “Conte Vitale” and the scroll in the “Primrose,” but I made some modifications to get the sound I want. So I make the scroll of the violin type, to be lighter, and a bit smaller, the corners shorter (for bow clearance) and the lower and C bouts a bit wider.

 

A good viola must produce many sound colours and contrast, you can have that only when you have a generous, wide dynamic range.

 

With a good viola, you can work with the bow to create colours. With most violas, you will change your bowing and almost nothing will happen in terms of sound change.

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With a good viola when you draw your bow from the fingerboard towards the bridge increasing the weight you will notice a big change in volume and colour of the sound. Just good instruments offer that. A quick response is essential too.

 

The viola must not choke when you play FFF near the bridge.

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Hollow and unfocused sound most be avoided, I look for a focused sound.

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Clarity is important too, when playing quick passages the notes should not mix.

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Wolves are a hell, I make a viola that can be played in the upper positions of the C and G strings. You may not be using the 7th positions of the C string now but as you start studying more difficult pieces you will have to do that. Just good violas will sound good in high positions of the C string, in general, you will have many wolves and rasped notes there.
 

Playing comfort: not only the size matters here but also string length, upper bouts width, rib height, weight, feeling "under the chin." Try to play in high positions of the C string.

     

Q4. Do you consider the performer when you make an instrument? Is there a process or experience that you draw from?

 

I make violas for demanding players, hence the big number of violas I have with principals (about 15 principals in 4 Continents) and soloists. But I am the first player to be pleased, I must play and be satisfied with it prior to send a viola to a player.      

 

Q5. Do you have any special emphasis on your craft, ie, a signature, special materials, specific methods that you hope to highlight?

 

My players are very demanding. Most of them already had a good viola prior to get one made by me. So I work with just one viola model and I have a kind of “recipe” for it that includes the weight of the graduated top and back, their tap tones, notes about archings, etc. My idea is copying my own successful violas. 

     

Q6. What are your favorite materials and tools? Least favorite?

 

I love Japanese made tools, made by masters. I favour wood that is light in weight for violas (a heavy viola is a nightmare). I also use wood that is at least 30 years old. For bigger violas, I use a maple that is a bit harder to get the sound focused. I never use tools or wood I don’t like.

 

Q7. How has your craftsmanship changed over your practice?

 

I started making instruments when I was 13 years old, I am 59 now. My violas are now more in my “head” than in my “hands.” Attention to detail in sound and wood working is bigger now. On the other hand I am making less violas a year than when I was younger.

  

Q8. Are there any changes in the field of string instrument making since centuries ago? Ie. Is there a “modern” way of making instruments?

 

The craft is the same it was 400 years ago. If you send me back 400 years to the past, I will be able to make a viola in the very way I am making now.

 

But, in general, in the case of violas we are much better now than in the past, due to the information we have today. Many old violas were too big, and then reduced, some of them were reduced in a drastic way and are too small today. In the 19th Century many violas were made to please violinists, so they are too small. Many of the old violas are too big, 17 inches, for instance. Also, in the past, the Stradivari model was very popular and I think it is a bad model for producing good bases.

     

On the other hand, violists today have to play modern or contemporary pieces that are very demanding on the viola, so that today’s makers have to produce a viola that will allow players to perform such pieces. In the 18th Century, the viola was never played in the upper positions of the C string, for instance.

     

Tabea Zimmermann plays a contemporary viola made by Etienne Vatelot. Many many concert violists are playing on modern and contemporary violas. 

 

Q9. Do you have a vision or a philosophy for your studio?

 

Yes, I have to be obssessive/compulsive, and work hard. Things must be done in the correct way from the beginning to till the end of the work.

     

Q10. What do you love the most about what you do?

 

I love being in contact with musicians, talking about music, players, meeting players in concert houses, teachers in top music schools. Some weeks ago the entire viola section of the Deutsche Kammerphillharmonie Bremen came for an Italian dinner here and to choose a viola. I love such occasions!

 

Q11. Lastly, is there a message you would like to share with the world?  

 

I will quote Joseph Campbell: “If you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.”