Tomáš Pilař

About

Tomáš Pilař was born in 1954 and runs the violin making workshop in Hradec Králové founded in 1924 by his grandfather Karel Pilař (b. 1899 in Stará Paka). The Pilař family belongs to the Krkonoše school of violin making, and Tomáš represents the third generation of its Hradec Králové branch. He learned the craft in the workshop of his father, master Vladimír Pilař, and built his first violin at eighteen.

In some fifty years of work he has made more than 300 master instruments. About eight are made each year, clients wait around two years for them, and roughly half go to musicians abroad, mostly in Europe. Instruments from the Pilař workshop have been played by Josef Suk, Václav Hudeček and Jaroslav Svěcený, among others. For many young makers the workshop, which celebrated its centenary in 2024, has also been the place of the approval examination for admission to the Circle of Czech Master Violinmakers.

Today his daughter Šárka Hušková Pilařová and her husband Pavel Hušek, the fourth generation, work with him. Tomáš Pilař is a member of the committee of the Circle of Czech Master Violinmakers.