Italian Lutherie Competition Announces Winners

The 12th edition of Italy’s National Association of Italian Artistic Lutherie Competition awarded its prizewinners from across ten countries

This year’s international edition of the National Association of Italian Artistic Lutherie Competition (ANLAI) was held in its traditional hometown of Pisogne, Italy, for the first time in six years. The winners include professional and emerging luthiers.

In the professionals category, first place winners were Georgi Nikolov, a Cremona-based Bulgarian luthier in the violin category; Italian Marcello Villa for viola; and Japanese luthier Akira Takahashi for cello. 

In the emerging makers category, first-prize winners included Kim Suji from South Korea for the violin division and Japanese crafter Hideaki Kotera in the cello category.

Additionally, in the division for the best antiqued instrument, first place went to Bulgarian Emanuil Markov. First prize for guitar-making went to Italian Salvato Donatella.

The award ceremony took place in the Church of Santa Maria della Neve, where 100 instruments from across the world received prizes from the various categories. 

The international jury comprised Roberto Molinelli, Roberto Collini, Benedicte Friedman, Elisabetta Giordano, Cesare Gualazzini, Fernando Lima, Valery Prilipco, Giorgio Scolari, Francesco Taranto, Sergio Palmiro Maggi, Sebastiano Vianello Mirabello, Alberto Simonetti, and Eleonora Pasquali.

ANLAI was established in 2007 and has since held 15 national and 12 international competitions, overseeing luthier participation from around forty countries and thousands of instruments. 

“I was awarded with the prestigious first place for violin in the category ‘Professionals’ at the XII concorso Internazionale di Liuteria ANLAI di Pisogne 2021!” wrote Georgi Nikolov in a Facebook post. 

“The dedication over the years, the aspiration and the patience in making a beautiful and melodic instrument were noticed and appreciated by the jury with maximum result!” he added.

For the full list of winners, click here.