2025 VMAAI Convention Presenters
Click on a presenter's picture to view their biography and presentation:
Christopher Germain
Kruno Kupresanin
Zoran Stilin
Presentation: TBA
"Jigs and Fixtures in Violin Making"
Hands on Presentation
"Final Stage of Violin Top/Back Graduation"
Theodore Oscar Buchholz
"About Cello"
Pablo Alfaro
"What About the f-holes?"
.png)
Hands-On Morning Workshops
Presentation by Zoran Stilin
Damian Stoppani
"Luthierie on Wheels - From Argentina to Alaska"
Alan Copeland
"Influence of Neck Setup toward Tonal Production"
Christopher Germain
Presentation: TBA
Christopher Germain makes award-winning violins, violas and cellos from his studio in Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Germain graduated from the Chicago School of Violin Making in 1985. From 1985 to 1991 he worked for the Chicago firms, Kenneth Warren & Son Ltd. and Bein and Fushi Inc., focusing on restorations of rare stringed instruments. In 1995, Mr. Germain was invited by legendary restorer Vahahn Nigogosian to be an instructor at the Oberlin Restoration Workshop. Mr. Germain became director of the VSA/Oberlin Violinmaker’s Workshop in 1997, which recently celebrated it’s 20th Anniversary.
Mr. Germain has served as the President of The American Federation of Violin and Bowmakers as well at The Violin Society of America and has also served on the Governing Boards of both organizations. In 2006, he organized The American Violin, a historical perspective on the history of violin making, which took place at The Library of Congress in Washington DC. He is co-author of The American Violin (2016 AFVBM). In addition, Mr. Germain is the author of numerous other articles, which have appeared in publications and scholarly journals, such as The Journal of The Violin Society of America, VSA Letters, The Strad magazine, Strings and others.
Mr. Germain is also a member of Entente Internationale Maitres Luthiers et Archetiers d’Art and has served as judge on numerous international violin making competitions, including The Violin Society of America International Competition, the International Triennale in Cremona, Italy, the China International Violinmaking Competition and others. He has lectured on violinmaking and demonstrated his craft at venues around the world.
Kruno Kupresanin
Presentation: Jigs and Fixtures in Violin Making
Kruno Kupresanin is a native of Zagreb, Croatia now residing in Amarillo, Texas. As a luthier, he has worked in several violin shops in the United States, including String Shop of Arizona and George Robinson Violins. He has operated his own shop in Amarillo since 2008.
Kruno was the Grand Prize winner for his violin in the Bob Wallace Competition for Violin Makers Association of Arizona International (VMAAI) in 2011. Kruno also won the Gold Medal award for tone with his viola at VMAAI in 2014. Most recently in 2021, Kruno’s cello was awarded the Gold Medal for Tone and the Gold Medal for Workmanship at VMAAI. In 2023, Kruno won the Gold Medal for Violin Tone in the Southern Violin Association Competition in North Carolina.
Kruno earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from Arizona State University and a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Texas Tech University. He was the
winner of the Texas Tech Concerto Competition in 2007 on the double bass. Kruno remains active as a musician, performing with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Music Amarillo. He has also performed with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, and
the Rijeka Opera. Kruno’s experience as a professional musician helps him better understand what a musician expects from their instrument.
Zoran Stilin
Presentation: Final Stages of Violin Top/Back Graduation
Hands on Workshop
Zoran Stilin, cellist and violin maker, is a native of Zagreb, Croatia. After completing his studies at the Music Academy of Zagreb under Valter Despalj, he continued his education in Switzerland with Michael Flaksman, and later at the University of Arizona with Gordon Epperson and Peter Rejto. Mr. Stilin is a prizewinner of the former Yugoslavia National Cello Competition. He has performed as a soloist with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra "Gaudeamus," Baden-Baden Symphony Orchestra, Zagreb Academy Symphony Orchestra, Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra since 1989 and is an active solo and chamber musician.
Mr. Stilin studied violin making and restoration with Karl Roy of Mittenwald, Germany, one of the world’s leading authorities in the field.
Since 1992, he has owned and operated a retail and repair/restoration violin shop in Tucson, Arizona. Over the years, he has received numerous awards for his violins, violas, and cellos. In both 2006 and 2016, Mr. Stilin was honored with the Bob Wallace Grand Champion Memorial Award in violin making by the Violin Makers Association of Arizona International. In 2022, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit for Tone for his cello at the Violin Society of America's 24th International Competition in California.
Zoran feels extremely fortunate to be able to combine his greatest passions: cello performance and instrument making.
www.zoransviolinshop.com
Theodore Oscar Buchholz
Presentation: About Cello
Theodore Buchholz is the cello professor at the University of Arizona. Described by newspaper critics as a “virtuosic cellist” with a “warm beautiful sound,” he has performed in prominent venues from New York’s Lincoln Center to international halls in Italy and Tokyo.
Buchholz’s album Afterglow: The Forgotten Works for Cello and Piano by Henry Hadley was released by Centaur Records in 2020. Earning the coveted five-star rating, Fanfare Magazine stated “Afterglow displays the composer’s rich harmonic language, and allows Buchholz to show off his impeccable phrasing during which he caresses each note. Its turns of phrase could simply not be more beautifully conceived and executed.” His recording of Hans Winterberg’s Cello Sonata was released under the Toccata label in 2018. Music for a Prince was released by Toccata Records in 2021, featuring the world premiere of works for cello by Lennox Berkeley, Arthur Bliss, and William Walton. As a nationally recognized researcher, Dr. Buchholz’s book The Cellist’s Guide to Scales and Arpeggios was published and internationally distributed by Mel Bay.
A fervent believer in the power of music education to transform lives, he is the Founding Director of the University of Arizona String Project. During the summers he performs and teaches at the Zephyr Music Festival in Italy. Dr. Buchholz's current and former students perform in orchestras and chamber ensembles around the country and they teach in private studios and in schools around the world. His students have been awarded scholarships to leading conservatories and universities and have won awards in national chamber music and solo competitions. Theodore Buchholz is the recipient of the Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award and he received the Charles and Irene Putnam Award, the College’s most prestigious recognition of excellence in teaching.
Pablo Alfaro
Presentation: What About the f-holes?
Originally from Mexico City, Pablo Alfaro graduated from the Taller de Laudería at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, in addition he attended the advanced 5 year program of specialization with Gary Vessel in Utah, USA. Pablo Alfaro has received 54 awards in violinmaking competitions worldwide, including 18 First Places and 18 Second Places. In 2009 Pablo Alfaro was the Grand Champion Contest Winner of the Bob Wallace Memorial Award. In 2022 won the South East Prestige Award for Instrument Repair Specialist of the Year in Georgia.
Mr. Alfaro is a member of the AFVBM, past member of the Board of Governors as well as conference speaker. As a member of VSA (Violin Society of America) Pablo attends the Oberlin workshops regularly and has been a speaker for VSA Conventions. Pablo is also a member of VMAAI (Violin Makers Association of Arizona International), serving on the Board of Directors and past President. In addition Pablo Alfaro has been a tone, varnish and workmanship judge as well as a conference speaker for VMAAI. Mr. Alfaro is also a member of SVA (Southern Violin Association) serving on the Board of Directors and current President, he also has been a conference speaker for SVA and Tone Judge.
Pablo received tutelage from great masters as Rene Morel, Hans Nebel, and Jerry Pasewicz and Chris Germain among others.
Pablo Alfaro has been a faculty member for the Universidad Autonoma de Puebla's International Music Festival, the Florida International University's "Animato" Music Camp, the "Orchestral Studies for Musical Studies" at Reinhardt College in Georgia, Nessonvaux Music Festival in Belgium and EMBA Veracruz, Mexico.
Pablo Alfaro was appointed as principal technician and foreman for five consecutive years at Summerhays Music Center in Utah. Also Pablo joined the staff of Williams Gengakki Violins in Atlanta, GA as a restorer for one year. Currently Mr. Alfaro works in his own shop "Alfaro Violins, LLC" in Decatur, GA, restoring fine old instruments, as well as creating new violins, violas and cellos.
Pablo Alfaro is as well a fine violinist, freelancing and playing professionally since 1982.
Biography incoming
Damian Stoppani
Presentation:
Luthierie on Wheels - From Argentina to Alaska
Damian Ariel Stoppani was born on August 10, 1984 in the town of Villa Constitución, Santa Fe, Argentina.
At the age of 15, while in high school, he began in the art of violin making with Ivan Blascovich who taught him the correct use of tools and built his first instruments.
In 2003 he entered the school of violin making of Tucumán founded in 1949 by the Italian master from Florence, Alfredo Del Lungo. During this stage he built guitars, violins, viola and cello. In 2008 he graduated from the school obtaining the highest grade in his final work.
In 2014 it began with the project "Lutherie on wheels"; He assembles his workshop and his house inside an old bus with which he travels through different regions giving lectures on the history and construction of string instruments in conservatories, orchestras and schools, while restoring and fine-tuning hundreds of bowed and string instruments. At the moment this project has been developed in different regions of Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, United States and Canada.
In 2020 he publishes his first book in Spanish, called "Chronicles of a Journey through time", in which he narrates the adventures of the journey that took him to Alaska. In 2021 this book is translated into English by Laura Barceló.
He is currently a member of the VSA and attends Oberlin workshops to continue learning with his colleagues.
His instruments are being performed by students and professionals of different musical styles in countries of South, Central and North America, Europe and Asia.
Alan Copeland
Presentation: Influence of Neck Setup toward Tonal Production
Learning woodworking and how to play the cello started early in his life. Though violinmaking began later, the skills developed in those activities continue to be directly applied in the making of violins, violas, and cellos. Training as a mechanical engineer was received at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alan worked as a mechanical engineer for over 30 years at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory before taking up violinmaking as a full-time activity.
His teachers of violinmaking include master violinmakers Edward C. Campbell and Thomas Oliver Croen. Valuable learning has been gained through the Violin Society of America Oberlin Violin Making and Violin Acoustics Workshops.
Hands-On Morning Workshops
Presentation: Final Stages of Top/Back Graduation
Presented by Zoran Stilin
For the first time, we are introducing an opportunity for active participation in one of our presentations. This hands-on session will focus on the final graduation of violin top and/or back plates. If time allows, we will also continue with bass-bar graduation.
Please note that no electronic devices will be used in this presentation. Seating is limited for active participants, so if you are interested in taking part, please contact me directly for details regarding the current stage of plate graduation and the few hand tools you will need to bring.
There is a small fee of $75 per person for active participation, which goes directly to support VMAAI. To be clear, members who wish to audit this session (observe only) are welcome to attend free of charge.
