Robin Aitchison
Robin Aitchison is a British luthier who specialises in cello making.[1] He lives and works in Ely.[2]
Early Years
Robin Aitchison aspired to become a luthier when he first studied the cello at the age of 14.[3] His early adult years were spent training and working in mechanical engineering and business[4] but in 1992 Aitchison decided to leave his management position[5] and to study for 3 years at the Newark School of Violin Making in Nottinghamshire, where he graduated with Distinction in 1996.[4] For 2 years, he worked as an Assistant Instrument Custodian at the Royal Academy of Music in London, helping to maintain and restore their stringed instrument collection.[6] During this period he also worked on the committee of the British Violin Making Association, preparing The British Violin, the first ever catalogued exhibition of British stringed instruments.[7] This exhibition took place in April 1998 at the Royal Academy of Music and received extensive national press coverage.[8][9]
Aitchison & Mnatzaganian Cello Specialists
In 2000 Aitchison established a specialist cello business, Aitchison & Mnatzaganian Cello Specialists with his wife, Sarah Mnatzaganian, where he hand-makes close copies of fine classical cellos to commission[10] as well as working on the sound adjustment and set-up of cellos.[11]
Aitchison cello owners
Cellists who play on instruments by Robin Aitchison include Stephen Orton, Chilingirian Quartet cellist[12] and long-term principal cellist of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields[13], Mikhail Nemtsov, Solo (principal) cellist of the Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra[14], Cellist and baritone Matthew Sharp[15], Heath Quartet cellist Christopher Murray[16], freelance cellist Klaus-Dieter Brandt[17][18], Urška Horvat[19], Joseph Davies[20] and RNCM student Josh Mountford.[21]
Take a Bow
In 2003, Aitchison and Mnatzaganian founded a series of contemporary cello bow exhibitions entitled Take a Bow, which assembled the work of leading contemporary bowmakers from across the world[22][23][24] and made them available to cellists in the UK both at their workshop in Ely and during their educational tours to UK conservatoires including the Royal College of Music, London.
Violin Society of America workshops
Since 2003, Aitchison has attended the world-famous annual Violin Society of America workshop in Oberlin, Ohio where leading luthiers meet and share ideas.[25][26]
Aitchison has given pre-concert talks for the Academy of Ancient Music at the Wigmore Hall, London and West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge.[27] In 2019 the Academy of Ancient music made a film about his work: ‘The Cello Maker: Robin Aitchison’.[28][29][30]
Publications
In November 1998 an article by Robin Aitchison was published in The Strad magazine which examines a Guarneri cello of 1729.[31] Sarah Mnatzaganian wrote over 50 articles published by the Strad Magazine between 1998-2012.[32]
References
- ↑ Ely Standard Thursday 21 January 1999 p.20
- ↑ Ely Standard Thursday 9 April 1998 p.14
- ↑ Cambridge Pride Magazine May 1998 p.17
- ↑ Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 East Life Winter 2004 pp.39-42
- ↑ The Independent Thursday 4 March 2004 p.23
- ↑ Cambridge Evening News Ely and Fenland Edition Thursday 2 April 1998
- ↑ THE BRITISH VIOLIN: 400 YEARS OF VIOLIN MAKING IN THE BRITISH ISLES p.4
- ↑ Classical Music Magazine 14 March 1998; The Times newspaper Saturday March 28 1998 and Tuesday March 31 1998 p.36
- ↑ The Independent, Saturday March 28 1998 p.10
- ↑ Eastern Daily Press Friday 8 May 1998 p.20-21
- ↑ Evening News Thursday 14 January 1999 p.28
- ↑ "Bios".
- ↑ "Academy at Home: Stephen Orton / Gershwin: Summertime" – via www.youtube.com.
- ↑ "BIO". nemtsov-duo.
- ↑ "Home Page". www.matthewsharp.net.
- ↑ http://christophermurray.ddns.net/
- ↑ "Julius Rietz, Johann Benjamin Gross: Cello Concertos and Fantasy - Klaus-Dieter Brandt, Riccardo Minasi, L'Arpa Festante | Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
- ↑ "Julius Rietz, Johann Benjamin Gross: Cello Concertos and Fantasy - Klaus-Dieter Brandt, Riccardo Minasi, L'Arpa Festante | Release Credits". AllMusic.
- ↑ https://www.urskahorvat.com/biography
- ↑ "Joseph, Harpenden Cello teacher, Harpenden Composition teacher". First Tutors: Music.
- ↑ "Instruments – Josh Mountford". joshmountford.com.
- ↑ The Strad October 2003
- ↑ The Independent Thursday 16 October 2003, p.14
- ↑ "Musicians make note to take a bow". Oxford Mail.
- ↑ StringsMagazine.com July-August 2020 pp.56-57
- ↑ "The Participants - Oberlin Violin Makers Workshop".
- ↑ "BBC - Norfolk - Entertainment - The Academy of Ancient Music". www.bbc.co.uk.
- ↑ "VIDEO: Luthier Robin Aitchison Makes Cellos for Academy of Ancient Music". Violinist.com.
- ↑ "Video of the day: the cello maker". Gramophone.
- ↑ "The Cello Maker: Robin Aitchison". The Strad.
- ↑ ‘Filius and son’ The Strad Magazine November 1998, pp1194-1200
- ↑ "The Strad features index: online for the first time". The Strad.
Robin Aitchison
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