Former alumni of the School of Musical Instruments Crafts in Newark share the impact the school had on their lives both personally and professionally
Former music students from a prestigious college in Newark have shared how their education at the school has shaped their lives and careers, and why it must be saved.
It was announced last month that Newark’s School of Musical Instrument Crafts, on Kirkgate, is suspending admissions to its BA (Hons) programmes in violin, guitar, piano, or woodwind making and repair for at least two years due to low admission numbers and ‘substantial’ financial losses.
Despite the school being known as a place of learning, for some attending the Newark school was more than that, and now former alumni of the school have now shared their stories.
Libby Summers, the owner of Stamford Strings, said that attending Newark Violin School marked a turning point in her life that had been defined by juggling different jobs to support her family.
A mother of three daughters, Libby had run a successful knitwear business for a decade, even supplying John Lewis and writing a book, while also teaching violin classes and working in the media.
She said: “I had all these different skills and I wanted to bring them together into one thing because I found it quite exhausting, switching mentally between these different jobs that I was doing.”
As she lived in Stamford, out of curiosity, she decided to visit the School of Musical Instruments Crafts.
She added: “I walked in, smelled the wood, and just fell in love.
“I saw a student antiquing a violin and thought — wow, I want to do that.”
The school offered Libby what she had been searching for — the chance to bring together her love of music, craft, and art in one career.
At the time, the course was a diploma rather than a degree, which Libby described as a crucial detail that made it accessible.
She enrolled in 2016 and graduated in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic which had quite an impact on her studies and she had to finish her studies from home, crafting her test piece violin in a shed surrounded by her daughters who had returned from university and school.
Despite the challenges, Libby used a government loan to set up a limited company in Stamford during her final year of the course and then opened a small shop in September 2020.
Now, nearly five years on, Libby has expanded into larger premises and recently launched her own line of instruments.
She said: “Newark completely changed my life. Before, I always felt a bit like an imposter.
“But with that certificate on the wall, I knew I’d trained properly.
“People see that and think — she knows what she’s doing. It gave me the confidence to build my business and serve musicians across the UK.”
Libby now chairs the Rowan Armour-Brown Memorial Trust, which supports violin-making students.
She said she felt deeply invested in the future of the school. “I feel very sad about the current situation, but also hopeful.
“There’s so much support, maybe this is the opportunity to rebuild the school stronger than ever.”
If Libby’s story is one of bringing together lifelong passions, for Luca Bosatta this represented a full-on career change at the age of 54.
An Italian-Swiss physicist who had worked for decades in financial technology — Fintech — developing risk tools for major financial institutions, Luca reached his early fifties with what looked like a dream career — or so people thought.
“I had one of the best jobs you could imagine, but I was chronically unhappy,” he recalls. “Every other week, I thought, I can’t do this any longer. And that went on for years.”
Luca spent a long time weighing his options, but it was an entirely unexpected discovery that changed his course.
He said: “I wasn’t searching for guitar making, but I stumbled across the fact that Newark had a guitar-making school, and I thought, this is it.
“I applied, resigned from my job, and moved to Newark for three years.”
Despite having three grown-up children at the time, the transition wasn’t easy for his wife, who supported him but had to manage at home alone during the week.
But, he said: “I haven’t looked back since and I don’t regret it at all.
“Some people have dreams to be on a Greek island shaking cocktails, but I didn’t have that, I did have this very deep desire to do the kind of work that I find satisfaction, also without an expiry date.
“With this job, I can do it until I can keep up standing or keep my brain together.
“And obviously working with your hands and doing specialised work like this feels like I can do it beyond retirement age.
“I'm not planning to retire anytime soon, I just keep doing what I do, and as long as I love doing it and as long as I can.”
Having graduated a year ago, Luca is now a guitar maker with his own workshop in Hertfordshire, and is also a part-time tutor.
“To create with your hands, to produce something lasting is something to talk about, but to spend the whole day with something that is something a bit more holistic that involves your body and creativity is a whole different thing,” he added.
“Even though it's a niche, I think it's important to preserve these kinds of jobs that involve craftsmanship, they represent something, also for humanity. It's not just the product.”
Luca said that the current school’s situation is ‘sad in many ways’, impacting not only the UK as a country but the world of music, and believes that people have to think about the long-term.
“So many people play an instrument and will continue to do that , but if you can't repair and build these things, what are you going to do?
“As a whole society, we have to look at the bigger picture.
“There is this aspect of the product, the musicians, and what are we losing, but there is also the other aspect as a society, also as Newark, what are we losing in terms of the people, the diversity that comes in through that.
Luca added: “Most of the stuff you buy today, you have to chuck away after a few months, throw away.
“And to have things that express something, have a history in themselves, what was made, the wood, the stories that come together in an instrument, is already a history.
“And then you pass on through generations, it's a completely antidote to today's overwhelming trends.
“And these trends cannot be stopped, and they will be overwhelmed, but to then shut down absolutely everything is mindless.”
For Iris and Tony Carr, the Newark School not only shaped their careers, but also their lives together.
Iris had dreamed of becoming a violin maker since discovering the profession as a young violinist in Germany.
After being turned down by the violin-making school in Mittenwald, she found her opportunity in Newark.
She said: “The school had just started a foundation course that wasn’t full yet, I was so lucky.
“I was amazed how many other foreign students were there. It made for a great community.”
Tony, by contrast, came into violin making after ten years in the furniture and joinery trade. He joined the school’s full course in 1994, during Iris’s second year.
The two met as they lived in student houses near each other, and got together in 1995.
Iris said: “Our time in Newark has had a huge impact on our lives in every possible way.
“Apart from finding each other, most of our long-term friendships were made during those years.
“We’ve gone back to visit the town every year since.”
After graduating, Iris was offered a job with Charles Beare in London, the man who had helped found the school.
She spent eight years restoring fine instruments for world-renowned musicians, honing skills she now passes on through her own restoration business in Suffolk.
Tony initially found it harder to secure work in violin making and returned to joinery, but kept building violins in his spare time.
Violin making is his main occupation, and the couple started collaborating more, with Tony creating and varnishing instruments, and Iris handling the antiquing and final setup.
In 2004, the couple moved to Suffolk, where Iris set up her business, specialising in restorations of fine violins, violas and cellos.
In 2012, she decided to start teaching restoration work and retouching, giving weekly courses up to four times a year and when the pandemic hit, she dedicated to creating an online course on how to craft a neck into a violin scroll, which Iris describes a a complex 30-hour procedure.
Iris also recorded three Xoom lectures with violinmaking students, which I made available online and since then have added another online course to the list covering crack repairs on violins.
Both Iris and Tony’s lives both professionally and personally, have been impacted by the school and they are big supporters of the current ‘save the school’ campaign.
They said: “We would be extremely sad to see the school close. It is of major importance within the Violinmaking World and has a high reputation in producing some outstanding makers and restorers throughout its history.
“There is no school like it within the whole of the UK and the other musical instrument courses are of equal importance.”
All these alumni stories are different, with people coming from different backgrounds and dreams; however, they are all united by their passion for musical instruments and the impact that the school has had on their lives.
Whether it’s a mother rediscovering her confidence, a physicist leaving his chronic unhappiness behind, or a couple building both a family and a shared craft, Newark has been at the heart of these journeys.
