Andrew Hooker Violins

Colin Irving

Colin Irving has been making and restoring stringed instruments for over thirty years

He employs the finest materials and traditional methods; he personally selects his wood in Bavaria, and keeps it to season for twenty years before cutting. Irving learned his craft from Dolmetsch, with whom he was apprenticed, and Gil Solomon. He was privileged to work on instruments by such makers as Stradivari and Guarneri, and to learn from visiting international craftsmen.

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Colin Irving has now made over 200 instruments and restored thousands. His violins and cellos are played by many leading musicians.

Ross Pople (1973) "with admiration and respect on my first performance with your magnificent cello" In 1981 Pople bought another Irving cello, which he played at the last night of the Proms. Pople can be heard playing an Irving cello in the Haydn Sinfonia Concertante (Pople/LFO ;ASV 580)

Raphael Wallfisch won the Cassado cello competition in 1977 with an Irving cello "I am full of admiration" Wallfisch can be heard playing an Irving cello in the Walton cello concerto (Wallfisch/BrydenThompson/LPO ;CHAN 8662) Also the Dvorak cello concerto (Wallfisch/Mackerras/LSO ; CHAN8662)

Tasmin Little "Colin Irving's instruments are quite outstanding for their great beauty and clarity of tone. I consider him to be one of the finest violin makers living today"

Julian Lloyd Webber "A maker blessed with an exceptional gift and talent of a very high order. Irving's instruments seem to possess a depth of tone which is all too rare"

Richard Jenkinson, Principal Cellist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra "my Irving cello is amazing, just great for leading the cello section" 1999.

He is always happy to discuss requirements, and to undertake restorations and commissions, both for the professional and the serious student