Welcome Innsbruck - Sommer // Summer 2017

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WELCOME || 117
after all. In that case the musical world, however, would have lost a tal-
ented and passionate instrument maker. „It was always clear to me that
I wanted to work in the field of music. I also loved doing things with my
hands, though,“ Claudia, now thirty-seven years old, remembers. So why
not combine the two things?
The old
After her A-levels, the young woman from Innsbruck attended a four-
year course at the violin-making school in Parma. After which fol-
lowed her years of wandering and learning in northern Italy. In Crem-
ona, Claudia finally came to specialize in baroque instruments. „When
making old instruments, you have more space for being creative,“ she
explains one of the main reasons for her decision. That she ended up
working in Tyrol again, after nine years, and also that she stayed, was
pure coincidence: „After such a long time, I felt a longing for a summer
in Tyrol, for my family and my friends.“ She returned for an internship
with a local instrument maker and finally went into business for her-
self. A step that paid off. „Being employed somewhere was always dif-
ficult for me. I couldn‘t realize my ideas that way. Which made the deci-
sion easy to set up on my own.“
The beginning
Her first jobs were mainly repairs. „I have hardly any time left for
that now,“ she says. Today, musicians order violins, violas, cellos, vi-
ols and viole d‘amore with the master – instruments from days long
gone past, each of them made according to the wishes of the re-
spective customer and provided with the instrument maker‘s very
own touch. „Every instrument maker has their handwriting. Which
is not just about craft skills, but also about feeling and intuition. If
you copied an instrument one to one, you would still never get the
same sound.“ An instrument from her own hand she will recognize
anywhere. And the feeling of sitting in a concert and listening to
the sounds of her own baby is almost indescribable: „Once, in a ten-
piece orchestra, half the instruments were made by myself. Which
made me quite proud.“
The heart
Claudia makes four instruments a year, always one after the other.
From the selection of the wood, to the fine inlays, and the varnish-
ing, everything is done by her own hand. Moreover, she makes ba-
roque bows, there having found a niche for herself. What the differ-
ence is between a modern and a baroque bow? „Modern bows, as far
as the sophistication of playing is concerned, are brushes, while ba-
roque bows are pencils.“ Which comes at a price. A piece from her
workshop costs one thousand euro. Most of all she likes making vi-
ols, which is her true specialty. She came across the instrument, and
learned to love it, during her training in Cremona. And while still en-
thusing about what makes this instrument so unique, the fingers of
her left hand begin to wander over the strings made of genuine gut,
while her right hand is leading the bow. Claudia launches into „Grand
Ballet“, a piece by Marin Marais. And it‘s true. The sound of the instru-
ment raises goose bumps. As does the sight of the instrument maker
handling the fruit of her craft. ||
DIE MEISTERIN // THE MASTER
Claudia Unterkofler, Grillparzerstraße 6a, 6020 Innsbruck,
+43 650 3456155,
VERANSTALTUNGSTIPP: FESTWOCHEN DER ALTEN MUSIK
Im Konzertprogramm der Festwochen 2017 steht „Jubilar“ Claudio
Monteverdi im Mittelpunkt. Rinaldo Alessandrini wird mit seinem
Ensemble Concerto Italiano Monteverdis Sakralmusikwewrk zur
Marienvesper aufführen. Den Reigen der Ambraser Schlosskonzer-
te eröffnen die österreichische Lautenistin Christina Pluhar und
ihr Ensemble L’Arpeggiata mit dem Programm „Teatro d’Amore“.
Mit Monteverdi kam ein neuer Tonfall der Liebe und Leidenschaft
in die Musik, zu hören in der Vesper der Heiligsten Jungfrau eben-
so wie in den berühmten Lamenti. Die ersten Worte des „Lamento
della Ninfa“ begleiten im übertragenen Sinn als Leitmotiv durch
die Innsbrucker Festwochen 2017: „Die Liebe, sprach sie …“
54. AMBRASER SCHLOSSKONZERTE
18. Juli 2017, 25. Juli 2017, 1. August, 8. August
41. INNSBRUCKER FESTWOCHEN DER ALTEN MUSIK
6. bis 27. August 2017
Programm und Tickets unter
EVENT TIP: INNSBRUCK FESTIVAL OF EARLY MUSIC
Claudio Monteverdi, born 450 years ago, takes center stage in the
concert program of the 2017 Festival of Early Music. Rinaldo Ales-
sandrini, with his ensemble Concerto Italiano, will performMonter-
verdi‘s piece composed for the Marian Vespers. The series of concerts
at Ambras castle (Ambraser Schlosskonzerte) will be opened by the
Austrian lute player Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L‘Arpeggiata
with their program „Teatro d‘Amore“. With Monteverdi, a new cadence
of love and passion entered music, which can be heard in the vesper
as well as in the famous lamenti. The first words of the „Lamento
della Ninfa“ will accompany us like a leitmotif, as it were, through
the 2017 Innsbruck Festival of Early Music: „O Love, she said ...“
54TH AMBRAS CASTLE CONCERTS
18 July 2017, 25 July 2017, 1 August 2017, 8 August 2017
41ST INNSBRUCK FESTIVAL OF EARLY MUSIC
6 to 27 August 2017
Program and tickets at