In the footsteps of masters: Postcard from Paris

From 12 to 23 January, the sprawling Philharmonie de Paris complex in the 19th arrondissement of the city became something of a playground for string players and lovers of chamber music during its tenth String Quartet Biennale. The grey Paris sky seemed to camouflage the mirrored, metallic facade of the building as I headed towards the Studio on a Saturday morning to sit in on the finals of the inaugural International Lutherie Competition’s young talent category. Coinciding with the latter part of the biennale (from 19 January), the competition took place under the auspices of the Philharmonie’s Musée de la Musique and the Talents & Violon’celles institution, and featured presenters Sol Gabetta and Raphaël Merlin of the Ébène Quartet. For 2022, the new competition focused on the cello.

Several rounds of blind auditions were held for more than a hundred instruments examined across two categories: Talents d’Aujourd’hui (89 established luthiers, each invited to submit a cello made within the past two years); and Talents de Demain (an up-and-coming generation of makers, with 26 individual contestants, plus duos and groups from six lutherie schools). The challenge issued to the young talent category was to produce a copy of Venetian master Matteo Gofriller’s 1710 instrument housed in the Musée de la Musique’s collection, a specimen prized for its finely carved f-holes and deep red varnish, and a tough act to follow for these young luthiers for whom, in most cases, their submission was their first completed instrument…