Les ma�tres d'art

There are in France about 350 violin makers, working in 180 workshops. They repair, restore and make sometimes and sell violins and bows. Only about 10 of them are exclusively makers. Patrick Robin is one of them, and he’s not well-established. His workshop, light and spacious, created in 1988, is located in Angers (France), in a quiet neighbourhood favorable for thinking and research. He shares it with his wife Andrea Frandsen, who was several times awarded the Golden Medal in international contests, like him. Their instruments are played on in the most renowned orchestras across the world, as in the philharmonic orchestra of Berlin or of Helsinki, which is a difficult thing to do, when you know that the musicians prefer to play on old instruments. They both attended the international school of violin making of Newark-on-Trent in Great Britain where Patrick Robin went to after passing his baccalaureate. He learned his craft with an open mind and exchanges of ideas he has never forgotten, breaking with the principle of secret between workshops that ruled the corporation a few years ago. About 10 violins or cellos are made in his workshop each year. Each instrument is like a Haute couture cloth, thought on, made, adjusted-to-measure for the musician who will play on it. Patrick Robin needs to see him and to listen to him to understand his character, his sensibility and his way to tackle music. “The violin is the voice of its interpret”, he says.(...)Carole Andreani