VIOLIN-MAKER Tan Chin Seng did Malaysia proud by winning two gold medals in the prestigious 10th International Violin Making Competition, organised by Anlai (National Association of Artistic Italian Lutherie), in Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.
Tan, from Kuala Lumpur, had to compete against fellow violin-makers from 16 countries including Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, South Korea and China.
The competition was open to both professional and non-professional violin-makers, and was divided into four categories – violin, viola, cello and classical guitar.
The instruments had to undergo an evaluation period from Sept 2 to 7.
They were first judged for their craftsmanship by an international jury of maestro luthiers headed by Lorenzo Frignani.
The jury panel included Anlai honorary president Mischa Myski, Anlai president Gualtiero Nicolini, Tuscan School of Violin Making president Fabio Chiari, Marco Coppiardi from Boston, Pal Racz from Hungary and Davide Sora from Cremona, Italy.
The instruments were then judged by a second panel of jury comprising musicians who tested them for their acoustic qualities.
At the conclusion of the evaluation period recently, Tan bagged a gold medal each for his handcrafted violin and viola in the non-professional category.
He had named his violin and viola Negaraku and Jalur Gemilang respectively as a show of patriotism and in honour of Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day.
The two award-winning instruments were on exhibit at the School of Violin Making of Tuscany till yesterday.
Tan, 39, studied under renowned luthier Han Zhao Sheng from Beijing and Bertrand Yves Delisle from Cremona.
On his historic achievement, Tan in a Facebook posting could not disguise his pleasure.
He said: “Allow me to shout loudly, Malaysia Boleh!”
