“When I was five, I already knew I wanted to be a violin maker but I would usually add, very cautiously ¨and an artist”. I saw that combination the whole day because my father was trained as a painter and later qualified as a violin maker. He had a workshop in Enschede. When I was thirteen I made my first violin under his supervision. In 1963 I went to the violin making school in Mittenwald, a reputable and very sound training course. You really do need such a good technical basis in order to be able to work out your musical and acoustic ideas.

Clients can select the wood for their instruments themselves from our stock. They can also choose between a number of my own models and several colours of varnish, but they will have no involvement with the design. I do what I want to do as far as that’s concerned. I look for my own form within the margins dictated by tradition. I like to vary the scrolls, the f-holes, that sort of thing, therefore I hate copying. Of course, our profession is a very traditional one, but that tradition has always implied that people developed their own forms within it.

I have always been a great advocate of new instruments, without wanting to underestimate the old masters. Indeed, they are our examples and our source of inspiration. However, I still get incensed when I’m confronted with the myth that, by definition, old is better than new, expensive is better than affordable. That can sometimes take on absurd forms.
For example, a musician might say he is looking for something “for about 50.000 euros”, rather than discussing the sound he wants! That myth is kept alive in all sorts of ways. For example, a Stradivari might be mentioned on a CD cover but a modern instrument isn’t. I can understand it, to a certain extent: an old instrument appeals enormously to the imagination, there’s a certain romanticism about it. But often it’s merely a question of status and you can easily see through that.

Time and time again new instruments come along which are just as good, if not better, than the old. And as far as romanticism is concerned, what is more romantic than having something specially made for you? An instrument for which you, yourself, have selected the wood, which you have discussed, which from the first moment becomes part of you and, moreover, lasts for centuries after you are gone?

text – Ellen Hooijen –

Yke Viersen – cello; Mieke Honingh – altviool; Esther Apituley – altviool; Ernst Grapperhaus -alt; Rudolf Koelman – viool; Peter Korpershoek contrabas; Ernst Reijseger – cello; Quirine Viersen – cello; Rudolf Senn – contrabass; Herman Salomon – viool; Frank Dolman – contrabas; Casper Bergsma – viool; Christian Louwens – cello; Lenian Benjamins – cello; Frank Rutgers – cello; Bart van Rosmalen – cello; Giny Busch – viool; Isabelle van Keulen – viool en altviool; Jeroen den Herder – cello; Saskia Viersen – viool; Olof Groesz – cello; Louis van den Hoonaard – cello en vedels; Pablo Kleinsman-viool; Truls Mørk – cello; Michael Gustorff – viool; Maartje Maria den Herder- cello; Jean Lamon – barokviool; Anthony Woodrow – violone; Angelos Repapis – contrabas; Thomas Brennstrup – contrabas; Annemijn den Herder – altviool; Gijs Kramers – altviool; Sander van Berkel – cello; Daniel Pareira de Oliviera – contrabas; Joannes Bergsma- cello; Ingrid de Vries – viool; Michael Gustorff – viool; Claire Bleumer – cello; Christaan van Hemert – cello; Jasha Bordon-cello; Margarita Bieberbick-viool; Hans Roelofsen – contrabas en violone; Frank Wakelkamp – cello en cello-piccolo, viola da gamba; Carlo Nabbe – viool; Silvio Dalla Torre, contrabass; Frank Rutgers – cello; Henk Lambooij – cello; Marta Lopez Vega – viool; Isabel Martin-viool; Rolin van Opstal – viool; Julie Stier-cello; Wouter Huizinga – altviool; Berry van Vugt – viool; Anna Badalian – viool;………..