Village celebrates the shop and artists who make Skokie the ‘violin capital of the country’

Rows and rows of handcrafted violins, cellos, violas and bows hang from the walls inside Peter Seman’s store. Toward the back, instruments rest in their cases on a stage, ready for a performance, and in an adjoining workshop are tools Seman uses to create the pieces from scratch. 

Seman Violins — a multifaceted showroom, music venue and repair center that, Seman said, helps make Skokie the possible “violin capital of the world” — was recognized by the village’s Fine Arts Commission earlier this month with an Artistic Excellence Award. 

The commission, which aims to honor individuals and groups who have made “significant contributions to the arts in Skokie,” celebrated Seman Violins for its community impact and the excellence of the store’s craft, said Ellen Blum Barish, chair of the commission. 

Seman Violins, 4447 Oakton St., owes its success in part to its connection with the Chicago School of Violin Making located just one mile away at 3437 Oakton St. in Skokie.

Seman opened the violin shop with a partner in 1988 soon after graduating from the school. 

He recalled being drawn to the nonprofit academy, “one of the best (violin making) schools in the country, if not the world,” after he spent 10 years playing violin for a bluegrass band in New York — a fun but “brutal” performing life that involved lots of late nights. 

Interested in a different career, and further pursuing his fascination with violins, he attended the three-year school despite having no woodworking skills. He then inhabited two other storefronts before eventually investing thousands of dollars in 2009 to build his current, customized shop. 

Now, Seman said he’s living his “dream job.” 

The store boasts an inventory of more than 1,200 violins, violas and cellos for rent, and a range for sale,  some of which were damaged antiques that Seman restored, and others he fabricated from scratch or obtained from select artisans in China with whom he had built ties. 

The violin shop stands unique because, while many others focus on traditional violins for classical music, Seman creates custom electric and five-string violins. The specialists on his staff, who have all graduated from the Chicago School of Violin Making, are also bluegrass or jazz musicians. 

“A lot of shops sometimes forget about the music and it’s like, we just sell objects,” Seman said, adding that he’s sold to famous musicians like Andrew Bird or Bobby Hawk. “But it’s really all about music. We have good ears because you can have a very beautiful violin but it also has to sound good. So I think we’re good at that — at picking instruments that sound good.”

After accepting his award from the Skokie Fine Arts Commission on Jan. 5, Seman said Skokie may be the “violin capital of the country” given that his store employs eight violin makers and there are 32 more working down the road inside the Chicago School of Violin Making. 

“What other town has that many?” said Seman, who also serves as the president on the board of the local violin school,. 

Notably, the school feeds talent to a number of other violin shops in Chicagoland but just two other academies in the country — one in Boston and the other Salt Lake City — offer a violin-making program of similar caliber, said Antoine Nédélec, executive director of the school. 

“It’s cool in a sense that usually musicians are recognized and often violin makers are kind of in the shadow a little bit. It’s nice that, for once, that gets recognized,” Nédélec said of the award. 

Drew Harding, a violin maker in Seman’s shop, said he was attracted to the craft because he grew up experimenting with woodworking and playing guitar. He wanted a way to remain close to music after he decided not to be a professional musician. 

“It’s kind of it’s own thing. You’re working at a different scale, everything is so much smaller,” Harding said. “So many wood workers, everything goes through a power tool, you’ve got a fixture for every power tool to do each job, and a violin maker is much more free to use hand tools and shape everything.”

In designing his store, Seman ensured there would be space for practice rooms, work benches, a varnish station and a photography studio. He also included space for a small venue, where Seman Violins hosts three to five concerts a month. 

Seman said musicians travel from all over, most recently from as far as Holland, to come perform in the space. The intimate space, Barish said, was an important reason the commission highlighted the store. 

Receiving the award from the village was “definitely appreciated,” Seman said, especially as his store has been in Skokie for so long and it was challenging, over the years, to build his operation to what it provides today. 

He hoped the recognition might help others become aware of Skokie’s significant contribution to the world of violin craftsmanship, and he’d like to see more businesses open in the village. 

“I think what it is is most people don’t know about us, because if you don’t play the violin, why would you know about us?” Seman said. 

“Besides driving by and seeing the store, there’s no way that you would know it goes way back here, we have concert hall and all this other stuff. So when people come in here they’re usually like, ‘Wow I didn’t know this was here.’”

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Become a member of The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a member? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.