Erik Buys holds a degree in Social and Agogical Sciences from the Brussles University.
The first steps in his professional life were taken in the world of psychiatry, where he counseled patients and gave music therapy: a very interesting and challenging field, yet along the way his interest in classical music grew steadily and so did the need to transform analysis into action.
The latter happened quite literally: he exchanged the rational psychological world for that in which the hands have everything to say: he started a violin training in one of the best schools in Belgium: the International Lutherie School Antwerp.
He then did a lot of research at the Musical Instrument Museum of Brussels (MIM), started copying valuable instruments and started his own business inAntwerp.
Following the demand for high quality solo instruments, he began to focus on 17th century Northern Italian instruments.
Even though it is his strong belief that personal innovations in instrument making are important, the oeuvre of the great masters is of such great value that it is impossible not to be inspired by them. Stradivari and his contemporaries therefore remain the basis and blueprint throughout his work..
His instruments are being played by musicians and soloists all over Europe and are on display in New York, London, Paris and Berlin.
In 2016 he was laureate in the cello building competition "VioloncellesenSeine" in Paris.
In addition to his work as a violin maker, Erik Buys contributes to the field by teaching
violin making and acoustics at the International Lutherie School Antwerp.
Besides making instruments, he's also a passionate chess player.
When it comes to making bowed instruments, modern violin makers have always been able to draw on the centuries of work of their predecessors.
The technical side of making a violin is an open book for quite a while.
A large body of information and research have given us insight in the different ways of construction used by early, some of them renowned, violin makers.
These insights go back right up to the end of the 17 th century.
Once we go further back into time it becomes more difficult to draw conclusions and make a stand on the acoustical conceptions of the then violin makers.
This is simply because of the lack of information but also by the fact that it's hard for us to replace our modern mind into a society, totally different from ours, with a different perception of making music and listening to it.
Before we can draw conclusions from the registration of 17th-century-instruments, we have to be able to project ourself into the spirit of that age and be completely in contact with her music.
The natural characteristic features of this music manifests itself in the use of gut strings and, -as a consquence- in the whole construction of the instrument. The acoustic experience is one of "borrowing", "releasing" sound from above, and being able to produce it as unaffected as possible.
On the contrary, playing modern music on instruments that are originated in the 17-th century is making a new deal with history.
Specific adjustements will bear a sound that is rich, clenched and stable, allowing the musician to use it, to bend it towards every desirable detail of his performance.
This means coping differently with the characteristics of soundwood and the forces acting on it.
For me this is the most pleasant challenge existing.
