Meet the Committee
The management committee comprises of ten members who, excluding the administrator and magazine editor, volunteer their time in order to run the BVMA.
Members are co-opted onto the committee through the year and voted in at the AGM. From time to time there are vacancies in the committee, and we are always looking to find people with new ideas to grow the association and take it forward. If you can see yourself on the committee in the future, please make yourself known to us.
Secretary: Julian pindar
Also: Advertising and Marketing
I trained at Merton College in violin making and repair. I then went on to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where I gained a BA in acting. I was in the acting industry for 10 years working in theatre and film, otherwise known as a jobbing actor. Throughout this time I was able to undertake some stringed instrument repairs but I returned to full time violin work when my daughter was born. The acting world, especially touring, are not conducive with family life! In that time I have built a repair and sale business in the Surrey area and also travel to China advising workshops and factories on instrument making and quality control.
Chairman: Geoff Denyer
Geoff graduated from Newark School of Violin Making in 1984. Having gained much experience restoring and examining fine instruments in workshops throughout Europe, he set up his own business 24 years ago in Winchester, Hampshire from where he takes great pride in offering a personal and professional service to all his customers. Geoff has a particular interest in Jacob Stainer, Jose Contreras and early English instruments. He was previously a BVMA committee member for 13 years and after a three year break was invited to take the position of chairman.
Renato Carrano: administrator
Renato has finished the second year of studying violin making and repair at Merton College, London. Prior to beginning his training as a violin maker, he worked as a business manager.
Contact: admin@bvma.org.uk
Tim Baker: Short Courses coordinator
Tim Baker graduated from the Newark School of Violin Making with distinction in 1981, and joined W.E. Hill & Sons where he trained as a bowmaker and repairer. In 1984 he joined J&A Beare Ltd, where his time was divided between bow making, restoration and the study of old bows.
More recently, he has been involved with the Oberlin Summer School in Ohio, and in 2006 worked with colleagues to establish a similar professional development course at West Dean College here in the UK.
Contact: courses@bvma.org.uk
Emma Hardy: quarterly magazine, editor
Emma is an independent violin maker and repairer based in Sheffield where she enjoys being part of the city’s thriving music scene. She studied violin making and repair under Keith Graves at Merton College, London. Emma is also editor of the BVMA Quarterly magazine.
Contact: bvmanewsletter@gmail.com
Kathrin Hügel: treasurer and Short courses coordinator
Kathrin graduated from Germany’s highly reputable School of Violin Making in Mittenwald in 2012. Since then she has worked in France for 3 years and had work experience in various workshops in Germany, New York and Canada and is a regular at BVMA courses. After having worked at Philip Brown Violins as a violin maker & restorer, she has now set-up her own workshop in Strasbourg, France.
Contact: courses@bvma.org.uk
Paul Fremantle: coordinator for student interests
Paul Fremantle is studying bowed instrument making including Viols and Baroque violin family instruments at West Dean College. Paul also studied Violin making at Merton College for one year. Before that, Paul was an entrepreneur in the software industry.
Tibor Szemmelveisz: International Relations
Kai-Thomas Roth: Short Courses
Kai-Thomas Roth trained at Newark School of Violin Making and has been exclusively making bowed stringed instruments of all periods and specifications since 1986.With well over 100 cellos made to date, as well as violins, violas, viole d'amore and double basses of modern, transitional and baroque set up and even a few viols his instruments are being played all over the world.
KATY THOMAS: WEBSITE COORDINATOR
Katy studied at the Newark School of Violin Making and graduated in 2007. After graduation she worked in Toronto repairing and restoring violins. Now she lives in Perugia, Italy and runs a workshop with her husband, Filippo Protani, a violin maker.
She’s taken part in several West Dean courses as well as Makers Day and looks forward to more in the future.