Posts
Athletes use the best gear they can afford in order to enhance their performance. In the same way, professional musicians use the best instruments money can buy. If you're serious about becoming a violinist or cellist, you may want to invest in an instrument made by master luthier Scott Cao.
A luthier repairs or makes lutes, guitars, violins, cellos, violas and other stringed instruments. It's a highly specialized skill and becoming a master luthier requires years of study, apprenticeship and practice. For this reason, many luthiers decide to focus either on plucked instruments like guitars or on bowed instruments like violins, violas and cellos.
Chinese-born Cao was a farm laborer during that country's Cultural Revolution in the Seventies. However, when he got the chance to learn how to make violins, he decided to go for it and eventually graduated in 1977. In 1985 he went to the USA. Here he honed his skill further under the mentorship of several renowned luthiers.
By the end of the decade he could start his own company and return to his homeland. Not only does the company now have a workshop in GuangZhou in China, but there's one in Campbell, California too. Award-winning luthiers work here to create top-of-the-range instruments. In addition, there's a factory in GuangZhou for producing more basic models but these are entirely handcrafted too.
Cao is renowned for his copies of some famous violins made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari in the Eighteenth Century. Among these are instruments played by the likes of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Joachim and David Oistrakh. Copies of a Stradivarius cello and viola are available too.
Other highly recommended models are copies of Guarneri instruments. Bartolomeu Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesu came from a family of eminent Italian luthiers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many regard him as an even greater violin maker than Stradivari. Cao's work include copies of instruments played by Nicolas Paganini, Fritz Kreisler, Isaac Stern, Henry Szeryng, Aaron Rosand and Jascha Heifetz.
Cao's violins are popular with everyone from students to professionals. Even collectors of stringed instruments are extremely happy when they get their hands on one of his creations. The instruments not only produce great quality sound but are also beautiful to look at. Some of the most famous players of his instruments are soloist Nigel Kennedy and Bin Hwang. Concert masters and conductors like Mark Volkert also love these violins. Itzhak Perlman has called the master luthier one of the best violin-makers he had ever met. The instruments regularly win international awards, especially for their tonal quality.
The easiest way to buy a Scott Cao violin is to visit an authorized dealer. You'll find these all over the USA as well as in Canada, Guatemala, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand. If you can visit the workshop in GuangZhou or Campbell, you may have a violin specially made. Of course you can also try and find a second-hand model for sale. The best places to look are musicians' forums and auction websites.
A luthier repairs or makes lutes, guitars, violins, cellos, violas and other stringed instruments. It's a highly specialized skill and becoming a master luthier requires years of study, apprenticeship and practice. For this reason, many luthiers decide to focus either on plucked instruments like guitars or on bowed instruments like violins, violas and cellos.
Chinese-born Cao was a farm laborer during that country's Cultural Revolution in the Seventies. However, when he got the chance to learn how to make violins, he decided to go for it and eventually graduated in 1977. In 1985 he went to the USA. Here he honed his skill further under the mentorship of several renowned luthiers.
By the end of the decade he could start his own company and return to his homeland. Not only does the company now have a workshop in GuangZhou in China, but there's one in Campbell, California too. Award-winning luthiers work here to create top-of-the-range instruments. In addition, there's a factory in GuangZhou for producing more basic models but these are entirely handcrafted too.
Cao is renowned for his copies of some famous violins made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari in the Eighteenth Century. Among these are instruments played by the likes of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Joachim and David Oistrakh. Copies of a Stradivarius cello and viola are available too.
Other highly recommended models are copies of Guarneri instruments. Bartolomeu Guiseppe Guarneri del Gesu came from a family of eminent Italian luthiers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Many regard him as an even greater violin maker than Stradivari. Cao's work include copies of instruments played by Nicolas Paganini, Fritz Kreisler, Isaac Stern, Henry Szeryng, Aaron Rosand and Jascha Heifetz.
Cao's violins are popular with everyone from students to professionals. Even collectors of stringed instruments are extremely happy when they get their hands on one of his creations. The instruments not only produce great quality sound but are also beautiful to look at. Some of the most famous players of his instruments are soloist Nigel Kennedy and Bin Hwang. Concert masters and conductors like Mark Volkert also love these violins. Itzhak Perlman has called the master luthier one of the best violin-makers he had ever met. The instruments regularly win international awards, especially for their tonal quality.
The easiest way to buy a Scott Cao violin is to visit an authorized dealer. You'll find these all over the USA as well as in Canada, Guatemala, The Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand. If you can visit the workshop in GuangZhou or Campbell, you may have a violin specially made. Of course you can also try and find a second-hand model for sale. The best places to look are musicians' forums and auction websites.
About the Author:
For products with the Scott Cao name, look at the catalog at sgfiddles.com today. More images and specifications can be seen at http://sgfiddles.com now.
No comments:
Post a Comment