Board Members
James Zartman (President)

James Zartman is a graduate of DePauw University and holds an LLB from Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Chicago for 40 years and was a partner in the firm of Chapman and Cutler, specializing in trust and estate law, income, gift and estate tax matters and organization and administration of not-for-profit corporations. He is a Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel; Academician, International Academy of Estate and Trust Law; and listed in each edition (until retirement) of Naifeh and Smith, The Best Lawyers in America. Jim is an author, lecturer and legislative draftsman in the fields of trust, estate and tax law. Hw has been an avid amateur chamber music player for 50 years, a collector of books on the history and construction of the violin and related stringed instruments, and a member of the Violin Society of America since 1992. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of that organization. Jim also plays harmonica, banjo, folk and country fiddle.

Jessie Gilbert (Vice President)

Jessie Gilbert joined the Chicago School of Violin Making Board of Directors in 2004. She graduated from CSVM in 2002. Before entering the school she worked for 30 years as a psychotherapist, specializing in work with children and their families. Jessie received her BA from Harvard University in 1970 and her MA in Social Work from the University of Chicago in 1973. She lives in Oak Park, IL with her husband Alan, an attorney. Currently she focuses on bow work and fundraising for the school.

Rebecca Elliott (Secretary)

Rebecca Elliott received a B.F.A. in Music Therapy from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1978. She graduated from the Chicago School of Violin Making in 1989 and began teaching violin making in 1993. She is Co-Director of the Chicago School of Violin Making and continues her own new instrument making. She is an active amateur chamber musician and is a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.

Tschu Ho Lee (Director-Emeritus)

Tschu Ho Lee is the Director-Emeritus of the Chicago School of Violin Making. He was born in Seoul, Korea. He was a violinist for the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Korea from 1956 until 1963, prior to his study of sculpture at Hong-Ik University. He graduated from the Mittenwald Violin Making School, which he attended from 1964 to 1967. From 1967 to 1970 he was the assistant to Mittenwald violin maker Josef Kantuscher. In 1968 Mr. Lee received a Master's Certificate (Geigenbau Meister) with Gold Medal from the German Government.

Mr. Lee moved to the United States in 1970 and began work at Kenneth Warren & Son, Ltd. As a violin maker and restorer. He was co-founder of the original K. Warren and Son School of Violin Making in 1975. In 1983 Mr. Lee took over the school and changed the name to the Chicago School of Violin Making. He continued as Director of the Chicago School of Violin Making until 2003, when the school became a non-profit corporation. He was named Director-Emeritus of the school and continues in an advisory capacity to the students.

Mr. Lee was a workmanship judge at the 13th International Competition of the Violin Society of America in November 1998 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and also at the 17th Violin Society of America International Competition in Baltimore, Maryland in November 2006.

He has made more than 300 instruments including violins, violas, and cellos and continues to build new instruments for a worldwide market. He is a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.

Eric Chapman

Eric Chapman began his career as a teacher, first in the History Department at St. Paul's School in Concord, NH and then as a Teaching Fellow in Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan. While in Ann Arbor, he was co-founder and the first Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Summer Symphony, now in its 35th year. He served on the Board of the Ann Arbor Symphony and performed with the orchestra.

Eric's love of instruments led him to become an instrument dealer. Eric Chapman Violins Inc. has specialized in violas and instruments by contemporary makers for the past 30 years. In addition, Eric is the Contributing Editor on contemporary violas for the Journal of the American Viola Society. He has also authored numerous articles for the VSA Journal and the American String Teacher's Association. Since 1966, he has been an active violist in civic orchestras.

As a founding member of the Violin Society of America and its President from 1975 -1982, he directed five international violin making competitions and increased membership from 100 to 1000. He was awarded VSA Gold Medals for distinguished service in 1982 and 2008. He recently retired from the VSA Board after 35 years of service. He has been a board member of the Chicago School of Violin Making since it became a non-profit organization.

Jeffrey Holmes

Jeffrey Holmes studied with Tschu Ho Lee at the Chicago School of Violin Making. Assisting conservator Dudley Greeley and violin maker Marilyn Wallin enhanced his experience during school. After graduation he worked with David Burgess at Shar in Ann Arbor, MI making new instruments and performing repair and restoration work. Much of his 17 years with Shar was as manager of its Fine Instrument division. From 1995-2003, he served as Vice-President of Shar Fine Instruments. In May of 2003, Jeff opened his own studio where he offers restoration, appraisal, expertise, new making and sales of old and contemporary instruments and bows. Jeff is a member of the Appraisers Association of America and presently serves on the Board of Directors for the Violin Society of America.

Ann Mohr

Ann Mohr attended Indiana University School of Music as a Violin Performance major. In 1983 she graduated from the Chicago School of Violin Making. While attending school, Ann was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and Concertmaster of the North Shore Symphony.

Ann and her husband Rodney opened their own business, Mohr & Mohr, Violin & Bow Makers, in 1985 in Lexington, Ohio, where she made and restored instruments. Since moving back to Ohio, she has been Assistant Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin of the Ashland Symphony and a member of the Mansfield Symphony and Wooster Symphony.

Ann has served as Personnel Manager, Librarian and Executive Director of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra and is currently the Treasurer of the Ashland Care Center and Secretary of the Ashland County Historic Preservation Alliance. Ann and Rodney live in a fully restored 1885 Queen Anne Victorian home in Ashland, Ohio and are members of the Center Street Historic District.

Rachel Barton Pine

American violinist Rachel Barton Pine has appeared as soloist with many of the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Iceland Symphonies, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, working with conductors including Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Marin Alsop, Neeme Järvi, and Placido Domingo. Acclaimed collaborations include Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, William Warfield, Christopher O'Riley and Mark O'Connor. Her festival appearances include Ravinia, Marlboro, and Salzburg. She has been featured on St. Paul Sunday, Performance Today, From the Top, CBS Sunday Morning, and NBC's Today. Her 11 critically acclaimed albums for the Cedille, Dorian, and Cacophony labels include "Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos" with Carlos Kalmar and the Chicago Symphony, and "Scottish Fantasies" with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She holds top prizes from the J.S. Bach (gold medal), Queen Elisabeth, Paganini, Kreisler, Szigeti, and Montreal international competitions, and has twice been honored as a Chicagoan of the Year. Her charitable activities include serving as a trustee of the Music Institute of Chicago and president of the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation. She plays the Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the "ex-Soldat", on generous loan from her patron. www.rachelbartonpine.com

James A. Warren

James A. Warren is President of the firm of Kenneth Warren & Son, Ltd., of Chicago, IL. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a BA degree in Business Administration, he joined the Warren firm in 1975. He was actively involved in forming the Kenneth Warren & Son School of Violin Making in 1975 (now the Chicago School of Violin Making) and served as its President from 1976 to 1982. A member of the Appraisers Association of America, he serves as his firm's sole expert for matters of authenticity. He has sponsored a number of research projects on historic violin makers and is involved in a project to co-author a book about bow maker Francois Xavier Tourte. Jim also serves on the Board of Directors of the Violin Society of America.

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