The Art and Business of Fine Violins

The evening will feature a performance by San Francisco Symphony violinist Sarn Oliver, an authentication case study, and a Q&A session.

About the speaker:

Tiburon resident Roman Goronok was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1978, to a renowned Russian luthier father and a classical violinist mother. He immigrated to the United States with his family at age 11 and trained as a classical violinist at the Cleveland Institute of Music, then in San Francisco with Zaven Melikian for violin and Susan Bates for chamber music. At age 17, he was offered a place with Professor Zakhar Bron and lived in Germany for five years, initially in Lübeck and then in Cologne. In 2000, he returned to the Cleveland Institute of Music to study with Donald Weilerstein and received a Bachelor's Degree in violin performance in 2001.

In the fall of 2000, Roman was involved in a serious accident, causing life-changing decisions. He decided to cease playing the violin professionally and enrolled in MBA-level courses at CWRU Weatherhead School of Management. Subsequently, he was introduced to Charles Beare, "the most esteemed authenticator in the world," through whom Roman learned extensively about instrument identification and the central issue of authentication.

Moving to London in 2007, Roman pursued these interests further through study at Sotheby's Institute of Art London, leading to his Master's thesis, Developing Criteria for Identifying Authentication Experts in the Art World, Their Establishment as Such, Their Recognition and Their Use.

In 2002, Roman established The Roman Goronok Company, a boutique investment firm specializing in fine and rare stringed instruments. He has expertise in the provenance and identification of instruments, the needs of professional musicians, the world of patronage and collection, and the business of investment.