Resonance Violins was established in 1999 in the South Hill area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Over the years, our shop has gained a reputation for expert repairs and restorations and the respect and confidence from musicians, teachers, and students throughout Western Pennsylvania.
We work with a host of professional string musicians from:
The Pittsburgh Symphony
The Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Youth Symphony
Welling Symphony Orchestra
West Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Youngstown Symphony Orchestra
The Music School of Carnegie Mellon University
Duquesne University
West Virginia University
... and many other professional Symphonies, string programs, and teachers throughout the Western Pennsylvania area.
Xiantong Zhu - Owner of Resonance Violins
Winner of 2 Gold Medals and 1 Silver Medal
Xiantong Zhu, the owner of Resonance Violins began his career as a professional violinist with the ZheJiang State Symphony Orchestra in Hangzhou, China. Later, he developed an interest in violin making and attended The School of Violin Making at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. After graduating, he returned to The Zhejiang State Symphony and remained there as the residence restorer and repairer.
In 1990, Mr. Zhu came to the United States and began his studies with Mr. Kotz, a famous violin & bow maker who has won 9 Gold Medals for violin and bow making from Cremona, Italy and the VSA in the U.S (The Violin Society of America). After Mr. Zhu acquired the Italian traditional violin making style from Mr Kotz, his skills enhanced tremendously and thereafter won a Silver Medal from the VSA International Violin Making Competition, one of the most prestigious violin making competitions in the world.
In 1997, Mr. Zhu entered another competition, The Violin Makers Association of Arizona International Competition, during which Mr. Zhu was the only participant to be awarded 2 Gold medals in the categories of Tone and Workmanship. Shortly after, Mr. Zhu also received an award from the Markt Mittenwald German International Competition held in Mittenwald, Germany.
In addition to violin making, Mr. Zhu also studied restorations at the workshop in Oberlin College with Vahakn Nigogosian, a famous violin making and restoring artist who has worked on hundreds of authentic Stradivarious at the world-renowned Sacconi Violin Shop in New York City.
Mr. Zhu has worked at several violin shops before opening his own shop and has over 30 years of experience performing countless repairs and restorations for professional musicians and students.
In recent years, Mr. Zhu devoted much of his time to bow making. He has traveled across the globe and studied under many world-renowned bow makers including Swiss born bow maker Pierre-Yves Fuchs (winner of many gold medals in the U.S and France), French gold medal bow maker Jean Grunberger,and well-known American bow maker and professor Lynn Hannings.
