A DECADE OF friendship

Paolo Bodini, president of the Friends of Stradivari network, clearly remembers the exact moment when the idea for the project was born. ‘It was a September afternoon eleven years ago’, he says. ‘I was sitting with Eva Lerner-Lam at a bar in Piazza della Pace in Cremona, and talking about her father’s collection of fine Cremonese violins.’

The Museo del Violino was not yet built, but was already being planned. In any case, the Stradivari Foundation, of which Bodini was president at the time, was already quite active in organising international events and prestigious exhibitions of rare violins, beside the Triennale violin making competition.

Bodini’s idea was that Cremona, with its facilities, tradition and know-how, was the ideal place where anybody who owned a precious Cremonese stringed instrument could bring it to be exhibited and taken care of, at least for a certain amount of time. Eva Lerner-Lam was not only an inspiring muse, but also gave substantial momentum to this idea. In a matter of months, five violins from the Lam collection were exhibited in Cremona’s Civic Museum, the first booklet about the ‘Friends of Stradivari’ proposal was printed, and the idea started to circulate through personal contacts and emails.

Feeling like a custodian more than an owner is the true meaning of being a ‘friend of Stradivari’

Since that time, more than 35 instruments have come to Cremona from countries around the world: the US, UK, Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Czech Republic and Italy. They have stayed for between six months and a few years, and each of them has been studied and documented with dedicated publications. With the owners’ permission, many of these instruments have been played in special concerts in the Arvedi Auditorium or in other prestigious locations.

When the Museo del Violino opened in 2013, an entire hall was dedicated to the Friends of Stradivari collection, a group of instruments which is being continuously renewed. This means that visitors and particularly experts and scholars can come face to face with fresh masterpieces, and thus increase their knowledge.

One basic principle that inspired the network was the ethical idea of sharing with other people (and potentially with all the world) the privilege of owning these unique objects; the feeling of being a custodian more than an owner is the true meaning of being a ‘friend of Stradivari’.

Furthermore, from the beginning it was decided that the network should be open to anybody deeply interested in the Cremonese violin making world (musicians, violin makers, scholars, experts and violin lovers), thereby creating a community linked together through the Museo del Violino with a dedicated website, newsletters, publications and events. More than 150 people are now consistently enrolled.

The network also acts as a fundraising entity to support the international activities of the Stradivari Foundation and particularly exhibitions, concerts and seminars that have been organised at least once a year in different countries.

The Friends of Stradivari will celebrate its first decade this month with special exhibitions, concerts and a gala dinner for the ‘friends’ who will gather in Cremona. They, along with other visitors to the city, will once again be able to experience a complete immersion in lutherie and music, in the name of Stradivari.