Matteo Fedeli: A Man With a Stradivari...in New York
They call him the “Man of the Stradivari.” Yes, because Maestro Matteo Fedeli is the creator of the project A Stradivari for the People. The initiative, born in 2005, is aimed at making everyone know and appreciate the unique and fascinating sound of the musical instruments done by one of the greatest luthiers of all times: Antonio Stradivari.
This time, A Stradivari for the People stopped in New York thanks to the European Chamber of Commerce, which organized the beautiful concert at the wonderful Church of St. Anthony of Padua in the heart of Manhattan.
Since the beginnings of this project, Maestro Fedeli has been travelling all around the world performing more than 600 concerts not only on some of the most prestigious stages of the countries he visited but also in more “common” places in order to let the magical “voice” of the violins speak to all people who wanted to be enchanted by a Stradivari.
“The project was born because of a charity initiative. For that occasion I played my first Stradivari called “Maurin Rubinoff” from 1731. The concert was a great success, the theater was filled with people and I was about 2 meters from the audience,” said Maestro Fedeli while explaining how he came up with this great project. “There something happened on an emotional level. My idea was to continue this experience and look for different Stradivari ‘knocking’ on the doors of private collectors to be able to bring to the public the voice of these instruments.”
Matteo Fedeli, a 41 year-old from Milan, is the only violinist who played 25 different Stradivari violins thanks to the kind loans by several Institutions, Cultural Foundations and private collectors.
“Every time a Stradivari is played, it opens its historical memory and its sound, which was impressed by Stradivari himself and by the violinists who have owned it. Every violin is different and the voice of one instrument in particular comes out only in the moment I start playing it,” affirmed Fedeli, seduced himself by these unique instruments. “Every time is a sort of magic that comes true. For me it’s the accomplishment of a dream and it’s magical because you become part of the history of that instrument.”
According to Maestro Fedeli, a Stradivari is able to speak directly to people’s feelings. “It’s the power of music, and if you are able to reach people’s emotions it means that you achieved your goal,” he added.
At the St. Anthony of Padua Church In New York, Maestro Fedeli played the magnificent 1715 Bazzini violin by Stradivari, an instrument that is insured for 15 million dollars and which next year will celebrate its 300th birthday.
“This violin is really extraordinary also because it hasn’t been played for almost 50 years, since it was part of a collection and nobody played it for many many years,” said Maestro Fedeli describing the beautiful Stradivari he is carrying on this tour across the US. “It belongs to the golden era of Stradivari and so it has a rich sound, overtones, a very brilliant sound especially on high notes and very intense and powerful on low notes. So it’s able to take advantage of the whole sound range of the instrument.”
“The pieces we are going to play tonight were chosen exactly to enhance the qualities of this particular Stradivari,” he concluded.
The concert indeed featured beautiful music pieces composed by Rachmaninoff, Saint-Saens, Paganini, Faure’ and Bazzini impeccably performed by Maestro Fedeli (violin) and Andrea Carcano (piano).
After the New York concert, the tour Stradivari for the People will continue and Maestro Fedeli will perform in Buffalo, Baltimore, Washington, South Carolina and Chicago...quite a trip for an almost 300 year old violin!
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