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LORENZO FRIGNANI
Curriculum vitae
Lorenzo Frignani began his professional activity in 1986 and has been involved in the construction and restoration of stringed and plucked instruments for over forty years, taking an interest in lutherie since the end of the 70s. He was President for 6 years ( 2017-2023) of the ALI Association (Association of Italian Professional Luthiers) and for about ten years was a member of ALADFI (Association of French Luthiers Bowmakers). In addition to his work as a luthier, he is deeply involved in many other aspects of the international music community. From 1986 to 2000 he received bronze, silver and gold medals in the National Competitions of Bagnacavallo di Romagna and Baveno. Subsequently he was a member of various juries in national and international bow lutherie competitions such as Baveno, Pisogne and Sesto Fiorentino. He was a lutherie teacher for about thirteen years at the courses for the School of Artistic craftsmanship of the Centopievese area, collaborating at the same time with the Municipality of Pieve di Cento (Bologna) as Artistic Consultant for musical and lutherie activities.
He has professionally trained several apprentices over the years, coming both from Italy and from abroad (Germany, Japan, Poland, Belgium, England, Holland, Finland, Taiwan, Singapore). Many of them are today appreciated professionals; Marcello Bellei, Federico Falaschi, Annette Stephany, Silvia Zanchi, Jacopo Uberti, Yojiro Hamasaki, to name a few. e has always dedicated himself to the research, restoration and conservation of stringed and plucked instruments and has collaborated and still collaborates actively with various museums (Mittenwald, Nurnberger, MFA Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Modena, Florence, Milan) . Together with Sauro Malagoli he founded and ran the publishing house from 2007 to 2015 the “LF Editions” who has been involved in translating ancient and modern texts on the subject of violin making, from a foreign language into Italian. He has edited numerous publications, including books "Marino and Mario Capicchioni luthiers"written together with luthier Pio Sbrighi of Rimini, “Giuseppe Fiorini, luthier”,“Pietro Messori luthier in Modena”,“Luthier Francesco Manfredi” written in collaboration with Roberto Fiorini, descendant of the historic family of luthiers from Emilia, in order to enhance the rediscovery of characters from the Modena area
He also conceived and designed on behalf of the Cassa di Risparmio di Cento Foundation, in collaboration with Giovanni Intelisano, the latest book dedicated toLouis Mozzaniand many other lutherie texts (about twenty). Frignani was called as a Technical Consultant for matters relating to musical instruments at the Court of Modena, Reggio Emilia and Naples and was a trustee expert for theArturo Toscanini Foundation, who works for the Emilia Romagna Symphony Orchestra. He also collaborates as an expert consultant for the insurance company Assicurarte (Cremona). He conceived and organized exhibitions of musical instruments in Italy in Parma, Finale Emilia, Medolla, Pieve di Cento, Modena (Academy of Science, Letters and Arts), Spezzano Castle and Rome (Casanatense Library) and abroad in Beijing and Lausanne (Brillancourt - Philip Morris World Headquarters- three months of exhibition and catalog in English and French, the only paper catalog produced other than the one on the history of tobacco). In Mittenwald - Geigenbaumuseum (Germany - 6 months of exhibition with Italian/German catalogue). He has participated in exhibitions dedicated to contemporary violin making also in Austria, China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and has been a guest on various radio and television broadcasts. In the 2002 he was the curator of the musical event "Music at the Court and in the collection"in Modena (Italy) in the context of "Extensi Weeks" and its catalogue. In 2003 he curated the preparation of an exhibition of Emilian Contemporary Violin Making at the Teatro Comunale of Modena as part of the festival "The Other Sound" and received from the Municipality of Modena the"La Bonissima" City of Modena Award, which rewards excellence. In the 2010 received the Gubbio city "Spataffi" award.
In the 2011 he was assigned the "Città di Fiuggi" award as luthier of the year. In the 2014 he was the only Italian to be part of the group of the three-year European project "Leonardo Research Guitar Project-LRGP", which was involved in the experimentation on the construction of guitars with "non-tropical" woods, in view of the restrictions introduced by the Washington legislation and which ended in 2017. The project involved 6 European countries and three international lutherie schools.
In 2016 he organized a two-month exhibition at the Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Modena dedicated to the Italian guitars of the classical period and presented the guitar in concert Stradivari “Sabionari 1679” of which he was the curator.
always in 2016 received the “Città di Alessandria” award with the motivation “a life for luthery”.
He is currently developing new research on the conservation and cataloging of historical instruments, for which he regularly writes articles for the most accredited sector magazines such as Seicorde, Guitart, the Fronimo, Luthier-Music-Culture and The Strad. He regularly holds conferences in Italy and abroad and works as a luthier in the beautiful city of Modena, where he lives.
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