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Teaching lutherie in Latin America: sowing the seeds for success

2025-07-25T08:49:00

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Peter Somerford explores how an instrument repair initiative, set up by the Latin American youth orchestra venture Iberorquestas and violin maker Lionnel Genovart, has grown to create a new generation of luthiers

Cheap, mass-produced stringed instruments and bows have transformed musical opportunities for children from low-income families across the world. But the affordability of these instruments often makes repairs by professional luthiers uneconomical, and every instrument that breaks and isn’t replaced means a child loses the opportunity to study. Such was the situation ten years ago in Latin and Central America for students in the 400-plus youth orchestras and ensembles of the Iberorquestas Juveniles programme…

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