Don Reinfeld, Bow Maker

Who am I?

I studied bowmaking and repairing with William Salchow at his studio in New York City and at the University of New Hampshire summer workshops. I've maintained a studio in western New York since 1973, first in Buffalo from 1973 - 78, then in Rochester since 1978 making, repairing, and restoring bows (modern and baroque) for violin, viola, cello, and bass. From 1996 - 1999, I regularly traveled to Cleveland, where I did repair work for members of the Cleveland Orchestra and students and faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music. In July 2002 I had an opportunity to closely observe Stephane Thomachot, Eric Grandchamp, and David Samuels at work at the Oberlin bow making workshop.

Born in New York City, I attended Haverford College, majoring in Ancient History, and Indiana University, where I studied classical languages and literature for two years (aiming to specialize in papyrology, see the photo below), and then cello under Leopold Teraspulsky,

photo by L.Ouzer

Fritz Magg, and Janos Starker. My other teachers and coaches included William Primrose, David Dawson, Paul and Martha Katz, and Joel Krosnick. I've taught at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and in the Community Education Division of the Eastman School of Music and performed in the Aspen Music Festival. I joined the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1973 and performed the Bach cello suites and gamba sonatas on Buffalo radio station WNED. I've been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic(RPO) cello section since 1978. My other interests include biking, asian cooking, gardening, and tinkering with Psion PDA's and an HP48GX, translating Portuguese documents for the IPCI, rejuvenating the building facade and box office of the RPO, studying classical guitar...My wife, Linda Reinfeld, teaches in the department of Language and Literature at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Receipt for work on the Nile levees,
3rd century AD

cartoon by Shan Ku