Matthew Tolzmann
Violin Photographer
Matthew Tolzmann grew up in a home where creativity and the arts were championed and he focused on music at a young age. He started writing music at age five and later learned how to play piano, trombone, euphonium, and eventually drums. He received a Bachelor of Music in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Northern Colorado.
After graduating, he became a professional musician and married a violinist, which is how he fortuitously stumbled into the unbeknownst-to-him world of stringed instrument photography. For more than twenty-three years, he has been the violin photographer for the world-renowned violin dealer, Bein & Fushi, founder and sponsor of The Stradivari Society. He spent years developing his own unique lighting techniques to eliminate glare and shadow when needed. In 2004, the great expert Robert Bein deemed him “the best violin photographer in the world.”
Matthew has photographed over 8,500 of some of the finest stringed instruments and bows in existence and has captured thousands of images of well over one hundred Antonio Stradivarius and more than one-third of all known Guarneri del Gesùs.
His stringed instrument photography has been published in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Strad, numerous magazines, calendars, and many books.
https://beinfushi.com
https://stradivarisociety.com/