About Andreas Franke

Andreas Franke was born on 5th Nov 1978 in Leipzig, Germany. He worked as apprentice from 1995 to 1998 in his father’s workshop. He emerged as a first prize winner in a competition amongst all the apprentices in the year 1998 in Saxony, Germany. In 1999, he received special training for bow repairing in Jochen Schmidt’s workshop in Dresden. From 2000 – 2002, he worked in his father’s workshop and from 2003 to mid 2005, in Christine Erik’s workshop in Vienna. At the end of 2005 till March 2007, he worked in Orfeo Strings’ workshop in Hong Kong.

Four generations of craftsmanship, expertise and acquired knowledge, have provided him with a perfect foundation to develop in this difficult profession.

In every workshop he worked, he always repaired and restored the instruments and bows with the highest level of craftsmanship. In each workshop it was their top priority to restore and to repair the antique instruments to keep the condition original so as to preserve the historical value of the instrument. During this period of time, he worked with many experienced master luthiers and thus had the chance to hone his skills and enrich his knowledge in violin making and restoration.

He had worked with musicians from famous orchestras like Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, MDR Sinfonie Orchestra Leipzig, Berliener Philharmonie, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker and Hong Kong Philharmonic.