"It has been an emotional moment to arrive at Casa Stradivari and visit the place where Antonio Stradivari lived and worked. It was also special to bring the legendary 1727 Kreutzer Stradivari back to its home after so many years. Casa Stradivari is a visionary project, bridging past and future. I believe the work it carries out by bringing together musicians and young luthiers is very important," said Maxim Vengerov, among the world's most beloved violinists, who recently visited Cremona as a guest of the Casa Stradivari's Artist Residency program. Accompanying him was the violin once owned by Rudolph Kreutzer, the instrument with which he enchants audiences worldwide and which has returned to the workshop-home where the extraordinary story of the greatest luthier of all time began.

Vengerov was welcomed by Fabrizio von Arx, Artistic Director of the Casa Stradivari Foundation, President Antonio Gambardella, and founding partner Vincent Bernasconi. In the recently restored and relaunched residence, through an artistic and educational project, he met with young apprentice luthiers attending the advanced training course organized by the Foundation and tested the violins they crafted in the same spaces where Stradivari had set up his first workshop.

As part of the Artist Residency project, Maestro Vengerov featured in two events promoted by the Casa Stradivari Foundation at the Giovanni Arvedi Auditorium of the Violin Museum of Cremona.

In the morning, a violin masterclass was held for the three winners of a competition organized by the Foundation: young violinists Luca Alberto Kaufman, Martina Cicciò, and Letizia Gullino, who were coached by Maestro Vengerov in a three-hour lesson open to the public, which attracted over 200 attendees. In the afternoon, a roundtable discussion titled "The Resonances of Stradivari" took place, moderated by Oreste Bossini. During the roundtable, Vengerov engaged with Fausto Cacciatori, curator of the Collections at the Violin Museum, Robert Brewer Young, luthier and philosophy professor at the European Graduate School of Oxford University, So-Ock Kim, violin professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Steven Smith, director of J&A Beare, and Fabrizio von Arx.
 

"It is an honour to host Maestro Vengerov at Casa Stradivari. His meeting with our luthier students and young musicians fully embodies the spirit of our project and the goals we set: to create a valuable dialogue among musicians, artisans, and students, which is crucial for their artistic and professional growth. This is the same dialogue that Stradivari himself sought and fostered. We continue along this path to contribute to the enhancement of the art of Cremona-based violin making, a UNESCO-recognized Intangible Cultural Heritage," stated Fabrizio von Arx, Artistic Director of the Casa Stradivari Foundation.