Carla Shapreau, a prominent scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, is recognized for her work uncovering the histories of rare violins. Shapreau serves as curator of the Ashley K. Salz Collection of Stringed Instruments in the Department of Music, is a senior fellow at the Institute of European Studies, and lectures at Berkeley Law. She is widely known for identifying a 316-year-old Stradivarius violin, stolen at the end of World War II, in photographs from a 2018 exhibition in Tokyo. Her research has attracted attention from major media outlets, including The New York Times, Le Monde, and El País, and is now the subject of interest from documentary filmmakers.

“I am surprised,” Shapreau said of the media attention. She is currently working on a book about Nazi-era looting of musical material culture, expanding on research previously highlighted by The New York Times in 2012.

Shapreau’s connection to violins began during her time as a biology student at Humboldt State University, when she was inspired by the sound of the instrument and switched her major to music. She later apprenticed with a violin maker in Oregon, eventually leaving college to become a professional violin maker in San Francisco. After a decade, she completed her degree and attended law school, focusing on intellectual, art, and cultural property law. She joined UC Berkeley in 2007.

Shapreau’s involvement with the Salz Collection dates back to the 1970s, when she studied the instruments and later maintained and restored them as an outside expert for two decades. She became curator in 2015. Her responsibilities include examination, conservation, preservation, and documentation of the collection, as well as engagement with students, faculty, and the public.

The Salz Collection, housed in the university’s Morrison and Hertz halls, was donated between 1955 and 1957 by Ansley and Helen Salz. It contains around 50 antique violins and violas and dozens of bows made by renowned builders such as Grancino, Gagliano, Lupot, Villaume, and Amati. The collection is primarily for educational use, allowing Berkeley students and the campus community to play and study the instruments.

“Students have a rare opportunity to experience and understand many facets of these instruments,” Shapreau said.

Sophomore Momoka Yanagisawa, assistant concertmaster of the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, was recently given the opportunity to play an 1834 Pressenda violin from the Salz Collection. Yanagisawa, who has played violin since age four and previously performed with the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, described the experience of playing the antique instrument as transformative.

“My teacher always says that the violin is going to tell you whenever something’s not working,” Yanagisawa said. “If you play it naturally, it is going to blossom and tell you what to do. It’s like talking to someone — if you try to control what they say, they’ll stop speaking. You need to let the violin be free and let it sing in its more natural state.”

Shapreau adjusted the instrument for Yanagisawa, who now uses it for performances with the university orchestra.

The collection also attracts international musicians. In March, Sergey Malov, a violinist and violist from Berlin, visited Berkeley to see a rare viola pomposa built in 1731 by Johann Christian Hoffmann, a friend of Johann Sebastian Bach. The instrument, believed by some scholars to have been played by Bach, requires restoration before it can be played again.

“It’s the earliest dated instrument of this type by the maker that exists today — it may be that Bach played it,” said Shapreau.

One of the collection’s most notable pieces, a 1620 Amati viola, was once owned by the Mendelssohn family of Berlin and was brought out of Germany during World War II. It was donated to Berkeley’s Department of Music in 1971 by Leo Eloesser, honoring Professor Albert Elkus.

Shapreau emphasizes that understanding the origins and journeys of these instruments provides insight into broader social, political, and cultural history.

“What’s so important about so many of these instruments is that the histories they come with are multilayered — and from that, we can learn a lot,” she said. “They bring so many worlds into focus for us, from historical to current.”

For Shapreau, caring for the collection and educating others about it remains a central commitment. “Each of these objects came from the efforts of the maker who created something that others enjoy and benefit from,” Shapreau said. “Throughout the histories of these instruments, some of which have survived several wars and transfers from nation to nation, the maker’s spirit and all those who came after are forever a part of the instrument.

“I think that informs the sense of why these objects matter so much, in addition to their sonic and aesthetic beauty.”