Musician makes music, sells violins with passion
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from February 2002.
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She has been playing violin with the Virginia Symphony for more than 30 years, since she was 15, and she used to perform in the local Trent Sisters string quartet with three of her siblings.
For about two decades, she has also been selling string instruments, both new ones and carefully restored antiques, that she hand-selects for customers. As head of Angelico Violins, Zaret is something of a novelty among owners of the few speciality string shops in the United States: a professional musician, and a woman.
"The edge that I have is that I'm a player," Zaret said. "I feel like I can speak to the person in their language. When they talk about tone and colour of the instruments, it's not foreign to me.
"Sound is everything to a player, and I've devoted my whole life to playing." Zaret operates out of a 10,000-square-foot warehouse. house in a neighbourhood filled with old houses rented by university students. The out-of-the-way location does not matter to Zaret - much of her business is national mail-order sales of higher-quality instruments, so she is not concerned about trying to attract walk-ins wanting to browse.
"People know where we are that know violins," she said.
The building's blandly industrial exterior gives no hint of the gleaming showroom inside. Violins, violas and cellos in rich browns and reds are displayed on stands, with the more valuable pieces protected behind glass cases along the walls.
In a back room; a craftsman hunches over a table to add some wood to a violin, while another passes a bow through a small flame to tighten the horsehair strings.
Zaret sells instruments, in children's and adult sizes, made in France, Germany, Italy, Romania and other countries. Some are plain, some ornately decorated. Most are in the $50010,000 range, although she did sell a violin for $150,000 a couple years ago. Value is determined by the instrument's maker, country of origin and condition.
Shops like Angelico are unusual, said Barbara Van Itallie, executive director of the Violin Society of America in Poughkeepsie, New York. The society's database lists only 41 people in the United States who claim string instrument and bow dealer as their primary occupation, she said.
Big cities might have several string shops, but people living in smaller towns might find themselves hours away from the nearest specialised dealer, Van Itallie said.
The field is dominated by men, both Van Itallie and Zaret said, partly because such stores tend to be family enterprises that traditionally have been passed down by fathers to sons.
Zaret got into the business first as a hobby.
She and her now ex-husband, Peter Zaret, also a professional violinist, were fascinated by older, finer instruments. "You get your really pure, warm, rich resonance," she said.
So about 20 years ago, they began selling some instruments out of their home. When the UPS truck started coming to their door every day, they realised it was time to get a business address. First they rented a space, then they bought the warehouse.
They used to do business under the name Peter Zaret Violins. When the couple divorced several years ago, Peter Zaret moved to Cleveland and set up his own shop there. Lillian Zaret retained control of the Norfolk shop and renamed it Angelico Violins to establish her own identity.
Her son, Joey, one of her four children, helps her out with computer work, while craftsmen do the restoration and repairs. But it is Zaret who goes to auctions to buy instruments, plays each instrument to make sure it sounds perfect after it has been adjusted to her specifications and tests the balance of each bow she chooses to sell in her shop. On the Net: h t t p : / / www.angelicoviolins.com
