Gregg T. Alf (born 1957 in Los Angeles) is a prominent contemporary American violin maker based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Alf made his first violin in 1975. Later, he spent eight years in Cremona, Italy, where he graduated from the International Violin Making School and established a growing reputation for his work.
In 1984 Gregg returned to the United States, and together with Joseph Curtin, founded the violin-making studios of Curtin & Alf.[1] His partnership with Joseph Curtin attracted the attention of numerous stars of the violin world, including Elmar Oliveira, Ruggiero Ricci, and Zvi Zeitlin. In 1993 a Curtin and Alf violin made for Oliveira set a record at a Sotheby's auction for the highest price paid for a violin by a living maker.[2] In 1997 he opened Alf Studios at the same location in Ann Arbor.
Replicas of classic Italian instruments formed the basis of his early work. But, Gregg also uses science and technology to better understand the acoustical foundations of his craft. Since 1996 he has been a member and facilitator of the Oberlin Summer Violin Making Workshops. In recent years he has become a recognized expert on the acoustical properties of violins.[3] He has also received numerous awards from the Violin Society of America for his work.[4]
Alf was co-founder with Joseph Curtin of the firm Curtin & Alf. In 2012, a Curtin & Alf violin made for Ruggiero Ricci set world auction record for the highest price paid for a violin by a living maker. Alf and Curtin dissolved their partnership after twelve years, but occasionally collaborate on a project together.[5]
Born to an artistic family in Los Angeles on January 30, 1957, Gregg Alf is widely respected as one of the leading violinmakers of our time. Musically inclined, he studied the violin as a child and made his first violin in 1975.
At age 19, he moved to Cremona, Italy where over the course of eight years he graduated from the Cremona International Violinmaking School “Antonio Stradivari” in 1980 and earned a growing reputation for his work. He returned to the USA in 1984 and with his friend, Joseph Curtin, founded the violinmaking studios of Curtin & Alf. From that collaboration grew Alf Studios, which continues to this day in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Gregg’s work has won highest honours at international competitions and exhibitions including a full range of awards and gold medals, and in 1982, the Violin Society of America’s highest honorary designation, “Hors Concours”. His unique style has evolved through an in-depth study of the rare Italian instruments that pass through his shop combined with a careful and ongoing dialogue with the concert artists who own them. His advocacy of contemporary making has brought a new generation of performers to the viability of modern instruments and Gregg Alf violins appear regularly on-stage with many of today’s leading symphony orchestras, in new recordings and in concert with some of the most respected soloists of today. They were presented at the Ole Bull celebration in Bergen Norway and are in loan collections offered by the Royal Academy of London, the Amati Foundation, Dextra Musica and the Maestro Foundation.
As a violinmaker, Gregg is exceptionally open about sharing his techniques. While honouring the Italian traditions represented in his replicas, Gregg looks to science and innovation for the guidance and inspiration needed to make even better instruments in the future. Founder and Artistic Director of the Amiata Summit, Gregg believes that promoting a new climate of openness between his colleagues and encouraging original models that look to the future while honouring the past are the keys to true progress in the art of violin making. He is a regular presenter at schools across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Highly regarded as a teacher, many of his apprentices have gone on to distinguished careers of their own.
Gregg holds membership in the Violin Society of America, the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, the British Violin Making Association and the Entente Internationale des Luthiers et Archetiers d’Art. He has served on the faculty of the Oberlin Violinmaking Workshops for many years and was a frequent workmanship judge for the VSA’s Violinmaking Competitions, the Cremona Triennale, the First China International Violinmaking Competition, and others. In 2011 he served on the Scientific Committee of the Guadagnini Exhibition in Parma, Italy. Gregg currently works on the Scientific Committee of the Cremona Museo del Violino, and I recent years has curated several important exhibitions including the 2016 Messiah Stradivari Exhibition in Cremona and the Tokyo Stradivarius Festival, 2018.[6]