Florian Leonhard  Florian Leonhard (born 1963, in Düsseldorf) is a London-based violin maker, dealer, restorer and expert. Florian has dedicated his life to studying, restoring and making violins. After studying in at Mittenwald School of Violin Making, he worked for W.E. Hill and Sons becoming Head Restorer. His firm, Florian Leonhard Fine Violins, has restored and supplied instruments by Stradivarius and the Guarnerius family for a number of renowned players including Leonidas Kavakos, Daniel Hope, Julian Lloyd Webber and Alina Ibragimova as well as to competition winners. Florian Leonhard has appeared on BBC, CNBC, and in the Economist, on subjects relating to investment in instruments and their preservation. The Daily Telegraph described him as "the world´s leading expert on fine violins", the Financial Times "world-leading authority on fine violins". He was a jury member at the Benjamin Britten, Karol Lipinski, Henryk Wieniawsky and George Enescu violin competitions.. He was on the jury of the 2012 Israeli Music Competition & Ernest Bloch Music Competition. A regular contributor to books and articles and having published his book, The Makers of Central Italy. Florian is also President of the Pisogne Making Competition in Cremona. By Greg Olwell posted March 2012