Born in Los Angeles in 1957, Gregg T. Alf made his first violin as a teenager before moving to Cremona at nineteen to study at the International School of Violin Making. After graduating in 1980, he continued working in Italy before returning to the United States in 1984. He went on to co-found Curtin & Alf with Joseph Curtin, later establishing Alf Studios.

His instruments have been played by musicians including Ruggiero Ricci, Elmar Oliveira, Zvi Zeitlin, Don McInnes and Hermann Menninghaus, and have appeared with leading orchestras and in collections around the world. In 2013, the Curtin & Alf “ex-Ricci” violin sold at Tarisio for US$132,000, setting a world auction record at the time for the work of living violin makers.

Gregg holds the Violin Society of America’s Hors Concours designation. Alongside his work at the bench, he has taught, lectured and served as a competition judge internationally, contributing to the Oberlin Violinmaking Workshops and Cremona’s Museo del Violino.

His curatorial work includes the 2016 Messiah Stradivari exhibition in Cremona and the 2018 Tokyo Stradivarius Festival. These projects reflect a longstanding engagement with the great Italian instruments that continues to inform his own making.

Now based in the United Kingdom, Gregg continues his work through Alf Studios, with a studio in London and a workshop in the Forest of Dean. His approach combines close study of classical instruments with experimentation and an open exchange of ideas between makers and musicians.