A string to his bow...

Now in its third year, The Shanghai Chamber Music Festival takes place this month, promising a tantalizing programme of performances from both home and abroad. Running concurrently, a China-wide competition will give musicians of all ages opportunity to share their talent, passion and dedication to the genre: 12 string quartets and 15 piano trios will battle it out for an impressive 130,000rmb prize.

Some background: with early beginnings in Medieval Europe, the classical form of chamber music popular today is widely attributed to "father of the string quartet", 18th century Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, with not a little refinement along the way from the likes of Beethoven, Mozart, et al. Comprising just 3 or 4 musicians, the performances are, by definition, intimate and still today, leave global audiences captivated – with China being no exception.

To that end, the nationwide chamber music competition returns to the city, featuring Chinese talent from Wuhan, Beijing, Guangzhou as well as Shanghai's Conservatory of Music and Normal University, and created to recognize, encourage and foster the country's ongoing love affair with classical chamber music.

Although not a necessary component of a chamber ensemble, violinists will feature prominently in the Shanghai celebrations. To learn more, CreativeHunt caught up with one of the city's leading violin makers, Huang Guo Rui at his Changle Lu workshop to discuss the precision, passion and art behind the music.







Huang started playing the violin at an early age, although never felt altogether comfortable performing on stage. His unease only grew when a teacher told him he would never make a great musician. Harsh, perhaps, although the teacher's subsequent introducing of Huang to the school's instrument repair studio proved the catalyst for the Shanghainese to realize his talent for making.

On finishing his education, Huang worked at the Shanghai Violin Factory for eight years, learning and observing the craft. He briefly returned to performing, playing in various groups in and around the city, and finally working with a producer on musical scores for several movies.

Already some years after reforms were introduced to China following the Cultural Revolution, its effects were still keenly felt, and, seeking change, Huang moved to Japan in 1993 where he made and repaired violins for 9 years. At the time, and perhaps still today, Japan's violin workmanship was far more developed than that of China, and when Huang returned to Shanghai in 2003, he brought with him greater knowledge, skills and sensitivity for his craft.







Walking into his small shop and studio on Changle Lu is like entering some time-forgotten sanctuary. Classical music wafts through the building, whilst violins, cellos, a piano the odd double bass decorate the dimly-lit room. On all available surfaces, violin-playing trinkets in porcelain, plastic and wood jostle for space alongside elegant bows, bridges and other stringed paraphernalia.

At the back of the shop is a workshop looking out onto a green garden beyond, where inside, Huang's adult son is focusing intently on the latest customized violin, surrounded by the trappings of a busy studio: the usual chisels and files, expected bottles of rich brown varnish, but also lifeless horsetails hanging next to instruments and strings.







Huang makes only two violins a year, each taking six months of honing, tweaking, checking and perfecting. He uses wood imported from Italy – hard maple for the back and sides; spruce, apparently best for vibrations, on the front; and dark ebony for the fingerboard. The first step – the cutting and shaping – happens outside of the city, before the basic structures return to Huang's shop for work on the details and sound.

The wood, explains Huang, is very important: high altitude and warm climate makes for a big tree that grows fast, the resulting density being good for violins' sound quality. The best, he says, is from central Europe – Romania and the former Yugoslavia. Depending on who the violin is for, Huang will choose either metal, plastic or catgut strings – the latter, usually made from goats' intestines, being considered the best. For the bows, he uses horsetails from Mongolia, the animals' northerly home giving the hair greater friction.

Huang's violins sell for 50,000rmb apiece and generally go to collectors overseas – there is, laments Huang, little business for Shanghai artisan violin makers, although teachers seem to be doing pretty well, he laughs. He has earned a reputation, however, for being a skilled and sensitive repairer of stringed instruments, the rows of violins awaiting attention in his studio being testament to his talents.







During CreativeHunt's visit, Huang shows us a rather special violin he's been asked to repair. Owned by a Singaporean collector, it's a rare and very beautiful Guadagnini, the likes of which regularly sell at auction for between 300,000 and 650,000 euros. It is older instruments like these that inspire Huang to keep making: 300 year old violins built by the likes of 17th century maker Antonio Stradivari sound different, richer and, to many, better than their more modern counterparts. It's an ongoing question mark as to why, and one that Huang sees as a worthy challenge: to replicate the resonance and beauty of legendary violins of old, and give something back to the history of music.

To look back into some of the very history Huang is so passionate about, be sure to check out the festival and competition, taking place at various venues across Shanghai from 8 – 13 June. The full schedule is here, and should you have a violin in need of repair, pay a visit to Huang's shop, E-Ray at 1131 Changle Lu.