After graduating from Wesleyan University, Brian Skarstad studied violinmaking in Salt Lake City with Anton Smith, Christopher deGroot and Peter Prier. He was the shop bowman and eventually the restoration shop foreman.

Later in New York he studied violin restoration with Amos Hargrave. He established a workshop in New York in 1979.

His violins, violas and cellos are heard in many leading conservatories and orchestras, and he restores, adjusts and appraises instruments for musicians, conservatories, foundations and estates both nationally and internationally.

He has participated in the sale of many fine instruments, including several by Stradivarius.

Over the years, Brian has worked with John Moroz on many instruments.

Raised in a violin workshop, Will Skarstad graduated from Earlham College and in 2008 began a rigorous apprenticeship in violinmaking and restoration under his father.

His work is careful and meticulous, and he lives in Brooklyn, NY.

The Morini Strad

In 1995, Brian became acquainted with Erica Morini and her magnificent violin, the Davidoff Stradivarius. Peabody Award-winning playwright Willy Holtzman has written The Morini Strad, a play about Ms. Morini and Brian's friendship. Warmly embraced by audiences and critics in Pittsburgh, Portland, Maine, New York City and L.A., The Morini Strad holds “great poetic truth”, according to David Patrick Stearns, music critic of the Philadelphia Inquirer.