Professional Biography of
RINO RIGHELE
In 1959 I attained my diploma of Machining and Fitting from the Instituto Don Bosco, in Verona, Italy. The following seven years, I remained in Italy where I continued working in this field while completing my military duties as a sergeant. In 1966, I immigrated to Canada where I worked as a machinist and millwright and attained my certificate in mechanical drafting. This education was critical in aiding my future mathematical drafting of instruments with Italian mathematic principles. From 1971 to 1982 I took violin lessons with Douglas Stewart and joined his orchestra in 1977. With Mr. Stewart’s encouragement, I studied and experimented with violin making and I successfully completed my first violin in 1973. I entered my first international violin competition in 1977, where I won second place in the Steel String Violin Tone category. The following year, I was awarded first place for my violin, viola (first viola I ever created) and cello. After taking a hiatus from competitions, I re-entered from 1982 to 1989 and was awarded numerous first and second prizes for my instruments. In 1985, I won first and second prizes for my bows.
My passion for perfecting the violin was inspired by the book I Segreti di Stradivari written by Fernando Sacconi. After spending years improving upon his varnish recipe, I created a chemically balanced varnish that will not spoil, even years after application.
Like Anibale Fagnola, I am self-taught and have utilized my previous education to perfect my instruments and to restore others with great success. I also have had the great advantage of residing in the rainforest of British Columbia where some of the very best tone woods in the world grow.
The last 44 years of my career has yielded over 100 instruments that many professional players, teachers and advanced students have described as having a strong projection, quick response and exude purity of sound. Several of these instruments have been well aged for over 30 years, which yields instruments with incredible playability and sound density. I have also created over 50 bows that have great balance and agility depicting the characteristics from Dominique Peccatte’s bows. The coupling of my instrument and bows provides the player with a profound experience not to be missed.
Rino Righele
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