A violin sold at auction recently for $11.25M. It wasn’t even a record price. That distinction belongs to a violin sold back in 2011 for $15.9M. Those are some impressive numbers. But I am more impressed by the fact that the violins in question were made in 1714 and 1721 respectively. They were made more than 300 years ago and they work as well today as they did back then— some say better! Those two fiddles, and about 950 like them, were made by the same guy. You know his name: Antonio Stradivari.
What is it about these little machines that makes them so resilient? Very few pieces of equipment that worked 300 years ago still work today, and though Strads can take up a lot of oxygen courtesy of dizzying auction prices, there are actually quite a number of Old Italians (as they are called) still in use today. In fact, you’ve already heard a couple on the Festival this season, and dozens of them over the years!
To unpack all the fuss and guide us in a deep dive into all things fiddle, we welcome violin-maker Jackson Maberry. No stranger to Walla Walla or WWCMF audiences, Jackson graduated from Whitman College and supported himself, at least seasonally, working for WWCMF along the way. He went from Whitman to Cambridge University and from Cambridge to Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he completed the prestigious String Instrument Technology program. He hung out his shingle as a violin maker in 2021. Tonight, we’ll hear performances of music for strings, violin in particular, while also exploring the technology behind the music. What makes these things tick? And how do you make one? Jackson has the answers.
Artists: Timothy Christie, viola; Norbert Lewandowski, cello; Jackson Maberry, violin-maker; Maria Sampen, violin; Other Artists TBD