Born in Los Angeles in 1957, Gregg T. Alf made his first violin as a teenager before moving to Cremona at 19 to study at the International School of Violin Making. After graduating in 1980 and establishing an early reputation in Italy, he returned to the United States in 1984 and, with Joseph Curtin, founded Curtin & Alf. From that collaboration grew Alf Studios.

Over the following decades, Gregg’s instruments have been played by distinguished artists including Ruggiero Ricci, Elmar Oliveira, Zvi Zeitlin, Don McInnes and Hermann Menninghaus, and have appeared with leading orchestras and in major collections around the world. In 2013, the Curtin & Alf violin “ex-Ricci” sold at auction for $132,000, then a world-record price for the work of living violinmakers.

His work has received the highest honours at international competitions, including the Violin Society of America’s “Hors Concours” designation. Alongside his work at the bench, Gregg has taught and lectured internationally, served as a judge at major violinmaking competitions, and contributed to institutions including the Oberlin Violinmaking Workshops and Cremona’s Museo del Violino. He has also curated major exhibitions, including the 2016 Messiah Stradivari exhibition in Cremona and the 2018 Tokyo Stradivarius Festival.

Throughout his career, Gregg has combined close study of the great Italian instruments with an unusually open approach to contemporary making, sharing techniques, encouraging collaboration, and exploring how tradition, science and innovation can together shape the future of the violin.