Jose Catoira

Jose is from A Coruña, Galicia. He started playing the Galician bagpipes at a young age and became immersed in the world of traditional music. In his teens, his initial dream was to become a bagpipe maker when an opportunity arose to train with a Celtic harp maker, then he learning to make mandolins and bouzukis. At 21 Jose moved to the U.K. and began to study violin making under the tuition of Chris Thorpe and then graduated from Newark school of violin making with an upper merit.

His professional experiences include many years of teaching violin making at The Cambridge Violinmakers workshop and working with many masters and violin shops around the world to hone his skills. Jose is regular participant of the Oberlin Violinmakers Workshop. Jose now divides his time between his home workshop in A Coruña and the Lodi Liutai Collectivo in Cremona. His instruments are in high demand from professionals with both Folk and Classical background.