Stradivari model, 41.5 cm

This 41.5 Stradivari model* was first created in early 2024, when, in collaboration with our friend and colleague Roland Schueler, we set out to find a definitive 41.5 viola model. After we successfully completed the first viola in September 2024, it was selected by the “Tonhain Kollektiv” for a concert as part of the KlangGestalten program. But this was only the start: With the second viola which I made, I participated and won first prize in the International Viola Making Competition in Paris in January 2026. The instruments were judged thoroughly by aesthetical and violin-making criteria and especially by their sound quality, and the audience had the task of voting for the best-sounding instrument.

My model won the first prize, as well as getting the special prize for sound awarded by the audience at the final concert. It was especially lauded for its powerful bass without effort, the fog-free middle register and its powerful, singing A-string.

→Read more about the International Viola Making Competition 2026 here. 

* For insiders and connoisseurs: anyone who has studied Stradivari's violas, knows that Stradivari had only used three viola models: The early 41.2 cm model (‘Mahler’), the tenor viola model (47.8cm) and the late 41.4 model (‘Archinto’, ‘Gibson’). For our viola the ‘Mahler’ served as a model, which we had redrawn (in the same proportions, but 41.5cm long).