16 1/8" Thomas Croen viola, Berkeley 1993

Born in New York City in 1956, celebrated contemporary violin maker Thomas Oliver Croen graduated from the Violin School of America in Salt Lake City, Utah and worked for Roland Feller in San Francisco before establishing his own business in Berkeley, California. His instruments have won numerous awards, including three Gold Medals at the Violin Society of America competitions of 1984 and 1986, earning him the designation of “hors concours.” Croen has served as a judge at VSA competitions as well as on the boards of the VSA and the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. Dedicated to sharing his craft, he has served as a guest lecturer at trade conferences taught at the Oberlin Violin Makers Workshop, he is a regular instructor at courses held by Learning Trade Secrets, and he has been published in Strings magazine. Croen relocated his workshop to Eugene, Oregon in 2017, where he currently restores and builds both modern and Baroque model instruments.