John Malveaux: Antonio Rizzo, Violin Maker, Partners With Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles

[Gustavo Dudamel and Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles]

John Malveaux of www.MusicUNTOLD.com sends this fascinating news:

On January 26^th, I was a dinner guest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Rizzo in Torrance, Ca. Antonio is a violin, viola, and cello maker http://www.arviolins.com/index.htm. He annually receives instruction and consultation in Italy from descendants of a legendary Italian violin maker. Antonio is around 86 years of age and wishes to share his knowledge and skills with future generations. One of his projects is a partnership with Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles http://www.laphil.com/education/yola.cfm. In addition to volunteering his personal services to repair violins, violas, and cellos, Antonio developed a curriculum with instruction book to help others teach interested youth to repair violins. Apart from this effort, Antonio shared with me that a young African American student contacted him and indicated he wanted to learn the craft/skill of violin making. Antonio invited the young man to his studio and started him with lesson plans and looks forward to his development.