Our tour to Cremona, Italy

by Sara Hernandez, Gy3

This January the Junior Academy’s chamber orchestra went on tour to Cremona, Italy – the birthplace of luthiers (violin makers). The city of Cremona is especially known for its musical traditions and history of the earliest and most famous violin makers ever, such as Giuseppe Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari and the Amati family.

The town was peaceful and there was no traffic in the city at all – which was nice after coming from a stressful capital. It was so fasccniating to experience a town where there are voilin shops and violin makers on every corner. One of the violin makers that I visited was Ferron Violins. He has an atelier and workshop located near the main square Piazza del  Comune and it’s really easy to finnd, it was actually the first luthier’s I saw when I first arrived. Maestro Ferron has received various awards for his creations and has also been the winner of many violin making competitions.

Through this trip to Cremona I met a lot of people in the world of music, and I got to play in a fantastic concert hall called Auditorium Giovani Arverdi. It was a really interesting hall to play in because of the amazing acoustics and construction, and was different from anywhere I’ve played in before. The stage was in the middle of the hall, surrounded by the audience. At the concert we performed pieces by Astor Piazzolla, Dag Wirén, Bach and Swedish folk music. We had a successful concert and I will have memories from this trip for the rest of my life.

The town was beautiful and we were lucky to have had really nice weatherr during the time we stayed there.  On our day off we visited Catedrale di Cremona, and Salita al Torrazzo which is a bell tower standing next to the cathedral. It’s 112 meters tall and we took the steps up to the top where we enjoyed a wonderful view of the city. We also went shopping, visited some violin makers, ate some delicious food and tasted Italian gelato ice cream.

Last but certainly not least we had the opportunity to cisit the Museo del Violino for free, and have a look at some old violins like Guarneris and Stradivaris, but there were also modern instruments. Even though we just stayed a couple days I learned a lot through this experience and am really happy to have visited Italy for the first time on this visit. I hope I will return soon!