Violinmakers Maastricht

The old town of Maastricht is the homebase of artisan violinmaker Martin Rijsemus. Since 1980 is his workshop/ studio located at the Witmakerstraat 1 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Being a son of an artisan smith and a mother devoted to playing the violin, it may not have come as a surprise that Martin (born Wageningen 1955) was strongly influenced by the love of his parents for arts and crafts as well as for the fascinating instrument the violin. He started playing the violin at the age of five and his musical training was completed under supervision of Mr Tibor Berkovits (+ 1988) at the Music Academy of Maastricht (conservatorium Maastricht). As a violinist he has been for many years member of the Heerlen Salon Orchestra performing nationally and internationally. During that time Martin also studied at the Mittenwald School for Violin makers, an International centre of excellence for stringed instruments, where he finalized his study to become a violinmaker. Presently with more than three decades of experience running his own workshop, Martin has become a seasoned master violinmaker helping and training others to also master the art of violin making. The combined skills of being able to make a violin out of a mere block of wood as well as his knowledge and feel for how a violin should sound, brought many true stringed instrument artists to his workshop.

Martin is married to Ingrid who studied at the same Music Academy of Maastricht. She has been a student of the famous Hungarian pianist Mrs Hedy Schneider. In the early years of their marriage Ingrid pursued her own musical career, teaching children to play the piano. For the past 15 years though she has been supporting Martin in the daily business of running the workshop/ studio. Recently (we are writing 2016) they celebrated their 38th marriage anniversary with their two sons Ingmar and Niels. The oldest son Ingmar is a gifted cellist yet his greatest passion lies with modern technics. He studied and graduated aviation electronics and is currently employed in that direction. Niels on the other hand, clearly likens to his father when in 2002 he chose to become an apprentice in the workshop of his father. In 2012 Niels demonstrated his mastering of the art by handmade his first violin, which had been bought by Mr Andre Rieu, Maastricht’s most famous ambassador of the violin.