Louis Caporale
For twenty years, Louis has been an accomplished violin-maker, a worldwide string instrument dealer and a renowned expert in identification, authentication and valuation of string instruments. His collaborations in the past years with top European and American violin experts, plus his close connections to the great instruments collections, have made Louis one of the leading violin experts in the world.
Born in the United States, with Italian ancestors, Louis relationship with the violin began when he started playing the violin at the age of three. His interest in how violins are made brought him to start his violin-making career at the age of fifteen under the guidance of Lloyd Kunkle. After graduating from the Chicago School of Violin Making with Tschu Ho Lee, he moved in 1989 to Tokyo. After working for several firms, Louis established his own violin-making company in 1991.
Louis makes new instruments after the tradition of the Turin school, most of which are modelled after the masterpieces of Annibale Fagnola. Because of his admiration for this master builder of violins, he wrote the book “Instruments of Annibale Fagnola”, which was published in 2004. This is an important book to have in any library on musical instruments .
