Joel van Lennep was born in Boston and grew up in Cambridge, MA. He graduated cum laude from Tufts University in both music and history and started out as an instrument maker by building two clavichords in 1966-67. His first lute was finished in 1967. He started working for William Ross in 1968 making harpsichords and clavichords. Later in 1968 he started his own shop, making virginals and clavichords together with lutes and related instruments until 1975, when he decided to specialize primarily in single-pegbox lutes and vihuelas.
Joel’s goal is to work slowly and carefully, keying his instruments to the individual player as much as possible and working closely with each customer until they are both satisfied. He gratefully acknowledges long-term cooperation with certain highly-valued customers like Hoppy Smith, Doug Freundlich, Chris Henriksen, Frank Wallace, Cathy Liddell and Crawford Young. These relationships have enormously enriched the experience of being a lute-builder whose first and foremost love has always been music itself.
