Scott W. Hershey, violin maker carving a scroll for a five string violin.

Mechanicsburg, PA- Master violin maker Scott W. Hershey has been selected “Luthier in Residence” for the 2010 West Branch International Music Festival and Academy, July 18th through August 1^st in Hancock, NY.

With the magnificent Catskill Mountains as a backdrop, the West Branch International Music Festival and Academy brings together an internationally recognized faculty of artists and teachers and talented students for a unique, immersive experience. Talented young musicians will be exposed to world-class festival performances, individual lessons, seminars, masterclasses and chamber music coaching over the two-week session.

As Luthier in Residence, Hershey will be available for on-sight services including bow rehairing, seam closing, bridge and sound post cutting and adjustment, and spot retouching as well as other repairs. Known for his multi-layered, brush-applied spirit varnish, taught to him in Beubenreuth, Germany by master violin maker Gottfried Raabs, Hershey will also offer a representative selection of his fine hand-crafted instruments for trial and consideration during the festival.

An award-winning member of the Violin Society of America, Hershey has crafted 122 instruments to date, including instrument commissions and repairs for premier instrumentalist such as Xiao Dong Wang, Netanel Draiblate, Peter Sirotin, Orlando Wells, Cheung Chau and Odin Rathnam. Most recently, the story of Hershey’s reproduction of Odin Rathnam’s 1755 Bartolomeo Calvarolla violin was featured in Central PA Magazine, November 2009.

“Scott Hershey comes to us with 28 years of experience as a luthier,” cites Odin Rathnam, the festival’s Artistic Director. “It is his high level of expertise and craftsmanship that made him the clear choice for this event.”

For more information on the West Branch International Music Festival and Academy, please visit: thewestbranchfestival.org. For further information on violin maker Scott W. Hershey, visit hersheyviolins.com.

Meet the teaching and performing faculty

Link to more information on the festival

Hershey Violins would like to introduce you to our latest addition to the violin shop. Ryan P. Crider,  a Perry County native, Ryan will be our resident apprentice. He will be studying the art of violin making and repair under my direct tutelage. Ryan is a accomplished fiddler, instructed by the award winning fiddler Glenn Knisley and shows fine wood working skills. He is a West Perry High School graduate, married to biology teacher Abby Crider and they are currently living in their recently purchased home in Perry County. We look forward to building a strong student/teacher relationship with Ryan and developing his violin making skills to the fullest during his apprenticeship with Hershey Violins. Please join me in welcoming Ryan aboard when you see him working around the shop.

Evening classes began January 12, 2010

How to build a violin classes began January 12th and run thru Feb. 16, 2010. Pictured: Scott W Hershey (instructor), Steve Murphy, Harry Mayden, Greg Glessner, Tom Loughry, Sandra Schlessman and Jim Wilson.  Available only to pre-registered students. This class meets once per week for six weeks. If you missed registering for this session, check back for future class dates or call our shop for details. View classroom photos.

Deb Hershey, Writer & Gail Huganir, Executive Editor, Central PA Magazine

(Harrisburg, PA) WITF Welcomes Hershey Violins

Deborah and Scott Hershey of Hershey Violins and Odin Rathnam, Concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, were recently invited to tour the WITF Public Media Center as the guests of Gail Huganir, Executive Editor of Central PA Magazine.

The invitation came as a result of the upcoming article, “History Repeated” which will appear in the magazine’s November issue. The article, written by Deborah Hershey, is the story of violinmaker Scott Hershey copying a 254-year-old Bartolomeo Calvarola violin for Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster, Odin Rathnam.

WITF Radio Producer Cary Burkett conducted a recorded interview of Hershey and Rathnam about the four-month building project, which will air at a later date.

To view this article click here: Central PA Magazine, November 2009 issue.

Scott Hershey was honored to be invited as the luthier in residence for the West Branch International Music Festival held at the beautiful West Branch Resort in Deposit, NY on September 12^th & 13^th, 2009.

With the magnificent Catskills as a backdrop, acclaimed musicians from around the world gathered for several days of comraderie and rehearsals culminating in a stellar concert on Sunday afternoon featuring a tribute to Felix Mendelssohn.

The festival, which ran over two weekends, was such a resounding success that Odin Rathnam, Founder and Artistic Director, plans to make it an annual event.

Pictured above: L to R: Michael Mermagen, Julian Hallmark, Orlando Wells, Adriana Linares, Michael Sheppard, Romulo Benavides, David Gotay. Front: Odin Rathnam, Artistic Developer and Netanel Draiblate

Click here for photos of this event.

A Day of Reckoning

The conversation started about a year ago.  Harrisburg Symphony’s illustrious concertmaster, Odin Rathnam, was faced with a dilemma.  His prized 1755 Bartolomeo Calvarola violin—familiar and steadfast in its service—was in need of a rest.  In fact, at the age of 254, it was deserving of frequent rests.  His playing style, Odin confesses, is quite demanding of any instrument.  How to afford his Calvarola its much needed respite without forfeiting the level of comfort that comes from such intimate familiarity?
Enter Scott Hershey, violinmaker.  Odin approached Scott with the prospect of creating a copy of the Calvarola with all its unique—sometimes quirky—details and the project took flight.  Over the next several months the two “masters” would meet often to hash out decisions concerning everything from the choice of woods to the choice of strings—and everything in between.
Fast forward to Tuesday, July 28th.  In the quiet of his pre-business-hours workshop, Scott handed the freshly polished and newly strung violin to Odin for the first time.  And while Scott had played the violin himself a bit, the true test was, of course, how it sounded when Odin played it–how it sounded to Odin under his ear.
For the next two hours, the shop walls reverberated with Odin’s music.  It is common knowledge that a new instrument must be “played in”—some say for years, even decades–until its true voice is realized, so Scott was realistic in his expectations of Odin’s initial response.
“This is an excellent student,” Odin said finally of his new “old” violin. “It learns the notes quickly, and its tone is every bit as round and full as the original.”  He played for a while longer and then added, “This is the best violin you’ve ever made.”
After further discussion, there are a few ergonomic modifications that will be addressed—strictly to the set-up of the instrument, not to the instrument itself.  The chinrest, the bridge height, the thickness of the fingerboard, and the combination of strings will be tweaked to better suit the maestro, and to make the transition between old and new instruments virtually seamless.
“This is an instrument that is meant to be played,” Odin added with a grin.

(Click here to view building photos)

Hershey Violins, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania:

Hershey Violins welcomes a valuable new asset to our musical community. Cellist Cheung Chau visited our shop for some last minute sound adjustments before his trip to Beijing China where he will perform in concert and conduct master classes.   Cheung, DMA New England Conservatory and MM Yale School of Music, will settle in the midstate after his month-long stint in Beijing.

The cellist of the Atma Trio www.atmatrio.org Cheung is also the former Assistant Professor of Music, Georgia Southern University and Bethany College and has taught at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Phillips Exeter Academy.  An award winning performer, he conducts master classes in many US universities, as well as in Europe and China.

Cheung’s wife Blanka Bednarz, the violinist of Atma Trio is the Associate Professor of Music at Dickinson College in nearby Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Cheung Chau (cello) and Blanka Bednarz (violin and viola) are currently accepting new students of all age levels.  For further information, please contact our shop 717.697.6341 or by email shershey@hersheyviolins.com.

Hershey Violins, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania:

When it was time to enlist a violin maker to copy his beloved 1755  Bartolomeo Calvarola, critically acclaimed violinist Odin Rathnam chose master violin maker Scott Hershey for the project.
The rare Italian violin that Rathnam performs on is frequently in need of a breather to allow the instrument and all its elements to rest.  In order to continue playing without losing the familiarity of his unique violin, Rathnam commissioned Hershey to build a modern equivalent, a precise copy of     the Calvarola with all its idiosyncratic bouts and details.
“I could have gone to any of the famous makers,” Rathnam said, “Sam Zygmuntowicz, Greg Alf, Joseph Curtain—but in the end I chose Scott Hershey, a world-class luthier.  I have every confidence in the tone and craftsmanship of his instruments, many of which I’ve used for performances over the years.”
The project has been a collaboration from the start, from choosing the aged European  woods for both the tonal quality and visual aesthetics, to discussions concerning the physics of each component and its effect on the instrument’s voice, to roundtable forums on the patina and hue of the final varnish—the maestro and the maker have accrued countless hours toward the new “old” instrument’s development.
“There are certain details that are unique to the Calvarola that were critical in creating its twin,” Hershey said.  “The unusually high archings of the top and back, the thinner-cheeked scroll, and its narrower ribs, all of these features required hundreds of meticulous measurements and multiple molds to accurately reproduce.”  But, Hershey cites, that is where the visual aspect of the reproduction will end.  “Odin was very clear in that he was not looking to duplicate the distressed patina of his instrument, as long as the feeling—the essence—of it was preserved.  He granted me full license to interpret the final varnish and finish of the instrument when that time comes.”
Even with this care and scrutiny, the real value of the instrument—its voice—remains a mystery until the assembled violin, still in the white, is dressed with strings.  Although one can speculate on the projected sound value, given the properties of the woods and the thorough processes of adjustments and extensive testing, the moment of truth comes when the bow contacts the strings for the first time.
“So far, this instrument shows every indication of possessing the same full, round, and projecting tone that is inherent in my Calvarola,” Rathnam said recently.  “I am very pleased.”

Projected completion date for the “new” Calvrola is July 2009. For more information, and to follow the progress of this buiding project, please visit hersheyviolins.com.  For further information on acclaimed American violinist Odin Rathnam, please visit odinrathnam.com.

Hershey Violins of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania was the focus of a recent “Out & About” segment on ABC27 News.  Chuck Rhodes, host of the special interest segment, and his crew spent several hours in the shop interviewing Scott Hershey, violin maker, about the process of violin making and varnishing.  Odin Rathnam, Concertmaster of the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Symphony and a frequent visitor to the violin shop, demonstrated the fine tonal quality of a Hershey violin and spoke highly of Scott’s skill in instrument making, repair and restoration.  To view this segment, click here.