Riccrad Socrari
Official Expert for the Court of Law and the Chamber of Commerce of Genova.
Assistant Curator of the Guarneri del Gesù 1743 ‘Il Cannone’ owned by Niccolò Paganini
Curator of the collection of the Conservatoir of Music ‘Niccolò Paganini’ of Genova
Born in Genoa in 1963, after graduating High School he is admitted in 1982 to the International Violinmaking School of Parma, where he studies under the direction of Renato Scrollavezza, taking the degree in 1986. In that period he attends Sesto Rocchi's laboratory; later he continues his apprenticeship in the workshop of Joe Curtin and Gregg Alf. Riccrad Socrari estabilished in Genoa in 1989.
Since 1995 colaborates to the preservation of the 'Cannone', the famous violin of Guarneri del Gesù owned by Niccolò Paganini, property of the City of Genoa.
In 2003 together with Willian Dario and Merlini Gilan, he attend the violin of Paganini's refurbishment also called the ‘Historical Recover’
The work is the result of intense researches in civic and private genoese archives and the result of the in depth analysis of the technical and organological features of the violin of Paganini.
The goal of this work was the removing of the recent interventions made on the Cannone in order to recreate the historical image of the violin as it was left by Paganini (see Strad October 2004).
A studier and researcher of the italian violinmaking, Riccrad Socrari has scored a number of articles, essays and books.
He is contributor for ‘The Strad’ magazine.
Lectures
In the last years Riccrad Socrari was invited as a speaker for several lectures in Italy and abroad among which we remember you:
- May 1999 - Beijing (People's Republic of China) - National Chinese history museum - Making techniques of violinmaking in Genoa
- October 2001 - Cremona (Italia) - The influence of Guarneri del Gesù on genoese violinmakers of XIX and XX century
- September 2002 - Baku (Republic of Azerbaijan) - The Cannone copy of J. B. Vuillaume owned by Paganini
- October 2003 - Cremona - Cesare Candi liutista
- October 2004 - Genova - Il Cannone International Congress - The historical and technical reasons of the restoration
- December 2004 – Genova – Paganini divo e comunicatore – ‘Paganini and his Cannone violin’
- December 2004 - Melun (Paris) - ALADFI annual meeting - Il Cannone: history, style and technical features
- May 2005 - Cannes - Symposium de lutherie et d'archeterie - Le violon de Paganini "Il Cannone"
- May 2007 – Genova – Andrea Amati a Genova – ‘The esthetic of the Cannone’
