This year’s Forum des fabricants, held at the Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur de Montreal, was a stimulating gathering of more than forty bow and violin makers from North America and Europe, as well as some of the top performers from Canada.
The exhibition included the latest creations of contemporary makers, including violins, violas, cellos, and their bows.
One of the signature items on the program was the concert performed by the concert-masters of the two major Symphony Orchestras of Canada, the Toronto Symphony and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal: Jonathan Crow and Andrew Wan, respectively. They closed their intervention with Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins in C Major. It is a rare privilege to listen life this outstanding, yet hardly ever performed master piece played by violinists of this caliber. The musical complicity and richness of tinges was mesmerizing.
Another featured activity of the exhibition was the lecture “The influence of the bow on the sound of an instrument” and the sonority test done by Frédéric Lambert. The ears of musicians and makers alike were challenged to note the differences among eight possible matches between two violas and four bows.
I participated in this event with two of my latest creations—the viola Maria and the violin Alice.
I am very thankful to Emanuel Euvrard and the Wilder & Davis team for the excellent organization of this event.
The exhibited instruments and bows are available at the Wilder & Davies Luthiers shop in Montréal until January 31, 2015.
