Smolka Violin

My grandfather, Josef Smolka, was born in Bohemia and emigrated to the United States in the early 1900s. He studied music at Julliard in New York, and then spent 33 years in the US Army where he participated in the Mexican Campaign against Pancho Villa in 1916, in France during WWI, and later mostly as a band leader. His love of music led him to play a vast variety of wind and string instruments. When I was a teenager he loaned me this “student” violin to learn how to play and perform with my school orchestra. Having seen some of the beautiful paintings of musical instruments that Elizabeth did, I knew I wanted her to do something special with this violin, and I am just thrilled with how it turned out.  — Michele Woods