Violin by Andranik Gaybaryan, USA 2023

Andranik Gaybaryan is a violin maker working in Northampton, Massachusetts. He came to making as a performer first: a conservatory-trained violinist who has spent more than thirty years building violins, violas and cellos in pursuit of what he calls the perfect sound.

He began the violin at six and went on to the Rachmaninov Conservatory in Rostov-on-Don, graduating with an Artist Diploma in performance. Alongside his playing he studied making with Araik Resyan at the Conservatory, and with Yuri Pochekin and Vyacheslav Suprun in Moscow. On graduating he was invited to run the Conservatory's restoration department, and he taught the history of violin making there and at the Rostov-on-Don Art College. In 2002 he moved to Northampton, where he worked at Stamell Stringed Instruments before setting up on his own, and served as violin repair master at the Marlboro Music Festival in 2008 and 2009. His models are inspired by Guarneri del Gesu and Stradivari.

Gil Shaham has owned and performed on a 2017 Gaybaryan violin in concert and on recordings, including the Prokofiev First Concerto at Tanglewood and the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the London Philharmonic. His instruments are also in the hands of Frank Peter Zimmermann, Oleh Krysa and Vera Beths, and of Victor Romanul and Michael Zaretsky of the Boston Symphony. Examples are held by the New England Conservatory, the Lisa Batiashvili Foundation, the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

We met Andranik by chance during one of our Northeast trips and were immediately struck by the consistency and quality of his instruments. In particular, his Del Gewsu models have a rare combination of brilliance, depth and response which we were drawn to. We think his work fits perfectly in the more soloistic range of our collection. One of our goals has been to bring more American instruments to Europe and Andranik is a fantastic representation of the high qualkity of craftsmanship currently being produced in the USA.