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From the 26th to the 30th of May 2008 a group of international viol makers will make a copy of Dietrich Kessler’s Richard Meares bass viol, to raise funds towards the purchase of Kessler's unique collection of viols. Once secured, this collection of instruments will be on permananent public display.
View the making of this instrument by logging on to www.bois-lutherie.com
We will upload photos at the end of each day.
Details of the raffle to follow - watch this space!
The team:
Pierre Bohr, Sergio Gistri from Italy
Gesina Liedmeier from Holland
Judith Kraft from France
Tilman Muthesius, Henner Harders from Germany
Jane Julier, Marc Soubeyran from the UK
The work will take place at the workshop of “le bois de Lutherie”, Fertans, France
The BVMA's annual conference takes place over a weekend each September at Dartington Hall in Devon. Five lectures/seminars are given by eminent speakers – violin makers and experts, researchers and those whose work in other fields is directly relevant to violin making. There is also a concert on the Saturday evening, after which the players will try out new instruments. The facilities at Dartington Hall are excellent and help to create the ideal atmosphere for meeting colleagues and exchanging information.
Speakers at this year's conference include:
John Dilworth - The Brescian school of violin making in the 16th and 17th centuries
Helen Michetschläger - Steam-bent viola fronts
Hans Karl Schmidt - German bowmakers and their stories
Mark Wilhelm - Stolen bowed stringed instruments: a neglected chapter of the rule of the Nazis
James Boyd - Commissioning a new instrument: the player's perspective
The concert on Saturday evening will be given by James Boyd (violin and viola), Maggie Cole (keyboard).
For further information contact: 01803 847147
Auction: from the estate of the late Dietrich Kessler (1929-2006)
Click on the link to view the prices achieved at this auction
The BVMA held an auction on 15 September 2007, comprising 51 lots from Dietrich Kessler’s workshop. All proceeds will go towards the purchase of Kessler's personal collection of viols, with a view to their being eventually housed in a controlled environment within an appropriate institution.
Dietrich Kessler was an outstanding violin and viol maker and restorer. The viol and its music were always his great love. During the course of his long working life he collected several exceptional viols. They were not only precious to him and his wife, Jane Ryan, who frequently played them, but they also provided a source of research which proved groundbreaking.
In all Dietrich left seven important bass viols and one bass violin. Four of the viols were made by English makers - a viol by Richard Meares c.1660, a viol by Henry Jaye dated 1619, a viol by Barak Norman dated 1693 and a viol by John Rose c.1595. Two of the remaining viols were made in France: one by Michel Collichon of Paris dated 1691, and the other by Claude Pierray also of Paris dated 1709. The final bass viol is one that Dietrich made himself and is a fine example of his style and craftsmanship. The most recently restored instrument is an 18th century bass violin made in Bologna, Italy.
The auction results can be seen in the file below:
Week-long courses at the University of New Hampshire, USA, including violin making, bow rehairing, bow repair,machine techniques for bow repair and bow tool-making, bow making techniques, basic violin maintenance and repair, intermediate violin repair and advanced violin repair. For further information visit www.learn.unh.edu/violin
The National Council for Culture and Arts through the National Institue of Fine Arts, and the Violin Making School are inviting Mexican and Foreign Violin Makers to the International Violin Making Triennial Competition to be held at Queretaro in Mexico.
For details contact Laura Convera, Principal at
Hidalgo No.20, Centro Histórico, Santiago de Querétaro, MEXICO.
For further information contact: Laura Convera - elauderia@yahoo.com.mx - 0052 442 2 12 22 99
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