Joseph Curtin

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Joseph Curtin is an American contemporary violinmaker who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is recognised as one of the world's greatest violinmakers.^[1]

He was a 2005 recipient of a MacArthur Fellows Program "genius grant".^[2] He has also directed workshops on violin design through the Violin Society of America, a group of builders.

Curtin uses technology such as MRIs, Lasers, and other scanning devices to measure the acoustics of violins, to aid in his designs.^[3][4] Curtin uses the information gathered to create replicas of famous antique violins, as well as research for more avant-garde designs including instruments made out of carbon fibre.^[5]

Joseph first learned violin making from Otto Erdesz, who was married to his viola teacher. Erdesz gave Curtin material for his first twenty violins.

Curtin was co-founder with Gregg Alf of the firm Curtin & Alf. In 1993, a Curtin and Alf violin made for Elmar Oliveira set a record at a Sotheby's auction for the highest price paid for a violin by a living maker.^[6] Alf and Curtin dissolved their partnership after twelve years, but occasionally collaborate on a project together.

In 2010, Caudia Fritz and Curtin organized a double-blind study which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in which 21 professional violinists tried to identify which violins were old (including 2 Stradivarius and a Guarneri), and which were new, and which they preferred.^[7] 13 of the 21 violinists preferred the new violins. One of the Stradivarius violins was the least preferred.^[8] The violinists could not reliably identify which instruments were old, and which were new.^[9]

Earl Carlyss, a member of the Juilliard String Quartet, was critical of the study saying "It’s a totally inappropriate way of finding out the quality of these instruments", and that what makes the older violins better is how they sound to an audience in a concert hall, not if the violinist likes it, in a hotel room.^[10]

John Soloninka, who was one of the violinists who played in the study, said "It was fascinating. I too, expected to be able to tell the difference, but could not" and that "If, after this, you cling to picayune critiques and dismiss the study, then I think you are in denial. If 21 of us could not tell in controlled circumstances and 1500 people could not tell any differences in a hall, and this is consistent with past studies...then it is time to put the myths out to pasture."^[11]

In a similar 1977 experiment, Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman and a classical violin dealer Charles Beare listened to a Stradivarius, a Guarneri, and a (then modern) 1976 British violin. They were also unable to identify which instrument was which, and two of them mistakenly identified the 1976 violin as the Stradivarius.^[12]

Curtin worked with Gabi Weinreich, John Bell and Alex Sobolev to capture the sound characteristics of many classic violins. They used this data to create a signal processor, that could convert the sound produced by a standard digital violin, and make it sound like a Stradivarius or other classic violin. Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin and author of "This is your brain on music" was presented with recordings of an actual Stradivarius and a recording of a processed violin, and guessed incorrectly as to which was the classic violin.^[13]

The following are notable violinists who use or have used violins made by Joseph Curtin.

• Official website
• "The Science of Siren Songs: Stradivari Unveiled - A Conversation with Joseph Curtin", Ideas Roadshow, 2014