by Aurora Anello
Italian by birth but with a German soul, Pirastro GmbH, headquartered in Offenbach am Main, has been synonymous with quality and reliability for over 200 years, becoming a global benchmark for strings and accessories for stringed instruments. At the latest edition of the Cremona Musica Expo and Festival we met with Antje Rosenberger, the company’s Sales & Social Media Manager.
What makes your products unique?
Pirastro is the only manufacturer in the world of strings with three different cores: gut, steel, and synthetic core, each with a specially matched rosin. With the introduction of our KorfkerRest shoulder rests and the brand-new KorfkerSpring chin rest, we are further deepening our research and sound optimization. What makes the company special is that it has been family-owned for 228 years, now in its sixth generation, and I think it’s fantastic that the company’s history and traditions are still being passed down today.
What product are you most proud of?
The Evah Pirazzi Neo strings we presented last year in Cremona. They have a clean sound profile and an intuitive approach. We developed them in collaboration with violinist Janine Jansen, who was switching instruments at the time because she was dissatisfied with her G string. She then contacted our technical director, Adrian Müller, who, after various experiments, managed to create a G that Janine liked. Satisfied with the work, they decided to create the entire set, and thus the Evah Pirazzi Neo was born, a product of completely independent development. The model name, “Evah,” is an acronym for the four names of the family currently running the company: E for Eva; V for Volker, her husband; A for Annette; and H for Henning, their two children, who are also the managing directors.
What should we expect for this year’s edition?
We’ll be introducing innovative strings, resins, shoulder rests, and chin rests… I can’t say more at the moment, but we’ll have a wonderful surprise for our musicians!
