Rachael Soroka has worked professionally in the violin repair and restoration field since 1999. Her first apprenticeship was with Peter Horn in his shop in Cleveland, Ohio. After that, she worked with Valerio Mongillo in Burlington, Vermont for 4 years. Rachael attended summer seminars with Hans Nebel in New York and at the Violin Society of America’s summer programs at Oberlin College. She studied violin making for a year under John Paul Moroz in Salt Lake City. She spent two years working in the shop of Roland Feller in San Francisco, and continues today to work under his mentorship.

In 2008, Rachael opened Soroka Violins and continues to do contract repair and restoration work for other major violin shops around the country as well as servicing instruments for local clients.

Rachael’s extensive experience working directly with musicians allows her to optimize the sound quality and playability of each instrument as well as adjusting to each musician’s personal playing style. Her specialty is in providing an instrument that looks its best and sounds its best while functioning responsively and comfortably for the player. A violin is a tool for making music as well as an exquisite objet-d’art in its own right: Rachael’s work and philosophy of repair ensures that you violin will not only play its best, but will be structurally healthy for generations to come.