Peter Prier

'His instruments spoke volumes of his wonderful artistry as a violinmaker and his importance as a teacher. He was a man of extraordinary integrity, really highly regarded by everybody that he came in contact with.' - Joseph Silverstein (who owned two Peter Prier violins)

American luthier, music teacher and businessman Peter Prier was born at Schlesien in Germany on 27 February 1942. He studied violin making in Mittenwald, then moved to the USA, settling in Salt Lake City, and working with the Pearce Music Company, then at the Utah Symphony. After serving in the US Army, he founded the Violin Making School of America in 1965, where he made violins, violas and cellos. From 1972 he accepted students, and from 1998 began teaching bow manufacture.

He supported music programmes in local schools and universities, made his studio available for recitals and donated several instruments to young musicians.

Peter Prier retired in 2006, selling his business to former student Charles Woolf, and he died in Salt Lake City on 14 June 2015, aged seventy-three.