Tom Wilder is an internationally renowned luthier who lives and works in Montreal when he isn’t traveling the world sharing his craft. Wilder grew up in Toronto. While studying political science and anthropology as an undergraduate he came across a biography of Antonio Stradivarius. The book changed his life. He enrolled in the Chicago School of Violin Making followed by apprenticeships in Seoul, Los Angeles, and Paris.
With Richard Davis, he opened Wilder & Davis Luthiers in Montreal in the early 1990s. Today the company has additional shops in Banff and Vancouver. He’s also a part-time scholar, with a Masters from McGill and a PhD in Music from the University of Cambridge. Wilder spent nearly 10 years assembling
The Conservation, Restoration, and Repair of Stringed Instruments and Their Bows, a 1,600-page “bible” of the trade released in 2010.
An Adjunct Professor in musical instrument conservation at the University of Pavia in Cremona, Italy, Wilder is also the co-founder and co-director of ConCuerda in Cartagena, Colombia – a program that helps young South American musicians establish themselves professionally.
“Stringed instruments are in themselves beautiful objects, part of the larger story of classical music,” he says. “Being a luthier gives me access to this wonderful world of music without having to practice 6 hours a day!”
