Violins, Violas, Cellos

Alberto Giordano graduated from the International Violin Making School of Cremona in 1984 then in 1987 he settled in his hometown of Genoa as a luther. A member of the Entente International des luthiers-archetiers d’art, he has been collaborating since 1994 to the conservation of the “Il Cannone” violin which was made in 1743 by Giuseppe Guarneri “del Gesù”. The violin, owned by Niccolò Paganini, is property of the City of Genoa. In 2004, following research conducted in both public and private archives, he completed together with Bruce Carlson, the so-called ‘Historical Recover’. The latter was an intervention aimed at restoring Paganini’s violin to its original historical appearance and the same historical playing conditions. This was done by removing modernising alterations introduced after World War II, and replacing them with replicas of the original fittings used by Niccolò Paganini himself. Alberto Giordano has been a speaker at numerous lectures and courses both in Italy and abroad, and has authored a number of publications, essays, and articles. He has been a long-time contributor to The Strad magazine and the Italian Archi Magazine. Since 2010, he has collaborated with Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste on microtomographic diagnostic campaigns using synchrotron light applied to violin making heritage. In 2015, he earned a Master’s degree with honors in Art History and Cultural Heritage Valorisation, with the right of publication. In 2018, he served as a judge at the XV Concorso Internazionale Triennale Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, and in 2024 at the 5th China International Violin and Bow Making Competition. One of his violins was included in Ruggiero Ricci’s final recording project, The Legacy of Cremona (Dynamic, 2001), in which the virtuoso performs on a selection of contemporary violins. He lives and works in Genoa, focusing primarily on instrument making, historical research, and the promotion of the Italian violin making tradition.

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