Nine gold medals were awarded at this year's Violin Society of America international makers' competition, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, from 15-21 September. Jeff Phillips received a gold medal in the violin category for tone and workmanship - his third in a row, having won golds in both 2010 and 2012 in that category. He also received a silver medal for workmanship in the viola category. Other golds for instruments went to Collin Gallahue (violin), Jason Viseltear (viola) and Michael Doran (cello). All four makers are based in the US. For the second time running, no gold medal was awarded in the double bass section, nor was gold bestowed in the quartet category.
French archetiers Emmanuel Begin and Eric Fournier were the most successful entrants in the bow making section: Begin won gold for a violin bow, while Fournier won for both viola and cello bows. A gold for bass bow was awarded to both Begin and Fournier jointly. A second gold in the category went to Susan Lipkins, who in 2012 became the first female bow maker to win gold in the bass bow division.
For this year's competition, a total of 542 entries were submitted by 312 makers in 26 countries. They comprised 246 violins, 110 violas, 69 cellos, 9 double basses, 80 bows and 28 quartets. In total, 26 medals and 65 certificates of merit were awarded. The number of golds was down from 2012, when 16 were awarded - 5 for instruments and 11 for bows.
Full list of winners:
VIOLIN
Gold Medal for Tone & Workmanship
Jeff Phillips
Gold Medal
Collin Gallahue
Silver Medal for Workmanship
Stephan Von Baehr & Paul Belin
Philip Valentin Ihle
Andrew Ryan
Silver Medal for Tone
Damon Gray
Xuelin Zhang
Certificate of Merit for Workmanship
Stephen Quinney
Wei-Xian Zhu
Georg Meiwes
George Yu
Ryan Soltis
John Young
Stefan Lindholm
Haide Lin & Zu Liang Wu
Certificate of Merit for Tone
Paul Crowley
Artur Friedhoff
Stanley Kiernoziak
Hongbai Qin
Zhen Nian Wang
George Yu
VIOLA
Gold Medal
Jason Viseltear
Silver Medal for Workmanship
Petio H Kostov
Jeff Phillips
Silver Medal for Tone
Edwin Halloran
James Robinson
Certificate of Merit for Workmanship
Borja Bernabeau
Paul Crowley
Shi Liao & Li Xiu Ding
Zi Qiu Li
Paul Noulet
Ryan Soltis
Isabelle Wilbaux & Louis Gord
Ming-Jiang Zhu
Certificate of Merit for Tone
Zhi Xin Huang
Guy Cole
Antonio Donato
Anton Domozhyrov
Mark Hough
Yang Kai
Zhen Hua Ling
Steven M McCann
Georg Meiwes
Jeffrey S Robinson
Ryan Soltis
Ken Su
Isabelle Wilbaux & Louis Gord
Ming-Jiang Zhu
CELLO
Gold Medal
Michael Doran
Silver Medal for Workmanship
Rainer Beilharz
Silver Medal for Tone
Stephan Von Baehr & Paul Belin
Andrew Carruthers
Haide Lin & Zu Liang Wu
Certificate of Merit for Workmanship
Petio H Kostov
Fabienne Gauchet
Duncan MacDonald
Georg Meiwes
Certificate of Merit for Tone
Kevin Chapin
Stanley Kiernoziak
Michael Lochner
Zai-Xing Sheng
Ben Wilke
BASS
Silver Medal for Tone
William Lakeburg
Christopher Savino
Certificate of Merit for Workmanship
Guy Cole
Roger Graham Hargrave & Rene Zaal
Certificate of Merit for Tone
Seth Kimmel
QUARTET
Silver Medal for Tone
Zhen Nian Wang
Gary Garavaglia
Certificate of Merit for Workmanship
Borja Bernabeau
Shi Liao & Li Xiu Ding
Georg Meiwes
Jason Viseltear
Certificate of Merit for Tone
Stanley Kiernoziak
Ian McWilliams
Paul Noulet
VIOLIN BOW
Gold Medal
Emmanuel Begin
Certificate of Merit
Victor Bernard
Eric Fournier
Eric Gagne
VIOLA BOW
Gold Medal
Eric Fournier
Certificate of Merit
John Aniano
Emmanuel Begin
Bernd Etzler
CELLO BOW
Gold Medal
Eric Fournier
Certificate of Merit
Emmanuel Begin
Bernd Etzler
Eric Gagne
BASS BOW
Gold Medal
Emmanuel Begin & Eric Fournier
Susan Lipkins
Certificate of Merit
Boris Fritsch
Photo: New Instrument Exhibit, VSA Convention 2014
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