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On That Note: the 'Mecca of Violin Making'

Robert Cohen in the Museo del Violino - the Stradiviari Exhibition in Cremona, Italy. The cello pictured is the Antonio Stradivari of 1700, named “Stauffer – ex Cristiani.”";s:3:

Cremona, Italy is the home of Antonio Stradivari, possibly the greatest maker of musical instruments in history. With more than two hundred violin makers living in the small picturesque town, it would make sense that cellist Robert Cohen would find himself there.

"Every restaurant, every hotel, every shop window has violins in it, has instruments of all sorts. It's one of the few places in the world you can walk around with a cello and nobody asks you, 'what is that?'" Cohen says.

However, Cohen wasn’t there as a tourist. He was at the "Mecca of violin making" to judge a world-wide violin making competition. He describes the process of sifting through hundreds of string instruments to determine what makes one truly exceptional:

Robert Cohen is the cellist for the Milwaukee-based Fine Arts Quartet, and his feature, On That Note with Robert Cohen airs monthly on Lake Effect

Bonnie North
Bonnie joined WUWM in March 2006 as the Arts Producer of the locally produced weekday magazine program Lake Effect.
For 35 years one of the worlds leading cello soloist, Robert Cohen is an award-winning recording artist, conductor, artistic director and pedagogue who has been broadcast on TV and radio throughout the world. His passionate views on the art of learning, performing and communicating music have been widely published.