Steffi
I was born in 1979 in East Berlin and started to play the violin at the age of seven. Four years later I qualified for the Young Musicians’ Grant, which prepared talented young musicians for a musical career, offering free supplementary lessons in violin, piano and orchestral playing as well as extended musical theory lessons. I won second prize twice in the well known competition for young musicians ‘Jugend Musiziert’. At the age of twelve I entered the Special School of Music ‘G.-F. Handel’ in Berlin, graduating with an A-Level in Music with distinction.
My interest in violin making started early when visiting my luthier, so at the age of twelve I attended my first work experience at the Atelier Jung in Berlin. In 1997, still indecisive about my future and while preparing for a musical career in violin playing, I visited the world famous School of Violin Making ‘Antonio Stradivari’ in Cremona, Italy and immediately fell in love with the school and the city. My decision was made.
In 1999 I entered the Violin Making School in Cremona where I attended 3 years of training in the making of violins. In 2002 I left Italy for the UK and studied Cello Making and Repair/ Restoration for two more years at the Newark School of Violin Making.
During the term breaks of my years of training I have developed my skills in repair and restoration of antique instruments by doing work experience in various shops throughout Europe: at the workshops of Gentges & Scheidt, Berlin; Philippe Miterand, Paris; Michael Byrd, London and Kogge & Gateau, Berlin. I have been employed as a Repairer, Restorer and Maker by the workshops of Andrew Reiley, London; V.A. Hill Fine Strings, Calgary, Canada and Bastian Muthesius, Berlin. The time at the workshop of Bastian Muthesius was particularly interesting for me since he specializes in baroque stringed instruments and I learned a great deal about period instruments, their making and playing and their set ups. In 2009 I became self employed in Cambridge.
In 2010, in partnership with my husband Joerg Koplin, we opened our workshop in York, ‘Koplin Violins’, covering all aspects of Instrument Making and Repairing, from Baroque to Modern Instruments.