Asked who Vivaldi was, most of us will reply he was a composer. Yet in his time, the Italian maestro was famous above all as a violin virtuoso. No wonder then that of his five-hundred concertos known today, almost a half are pieces with a solo violin part. The showy solos of il Prete Rosso continue to challenge masters of violin technique endowed with deep sensitivity to music. A task worthy of Giugliano Carmignola, hailed as the prince of Baroque violin.
We could say that becoming a virtuoso specialising in Vivaldi has been Carmignola’s destiny. He was born in Treviso, not far away from Vivaldi’s native Venice, his dad was a violinist with whom he of course started violin lessons as a little boy. He continued his formal studies with Luigi Ferro, a member of a pioneering ensemble reinstating Vivaldi’s works forgotten over the centuries. Carmignola is open about his preference of Baroque violins to modern instruments. In Wrocław, we will admire the two treasures he plays, and both are extraordinary violins from the 18th century. Perhaps Vivaldi used similar ones himself?