2015 Distinguished Alumni Award Winner: Kevin Kelly VM ’92

Kevin Kelly VM ’92 was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award by NBSS Alumni Association president Colleen Matthews at the May 29 graduation ceremony.

After graduating from North Bennet Street School in 1992, Kevin did violin repair work in San Francisco and Boston. In 1998, he returned to NBSS as a teacher in the Violin Making and Repair program. Since 2002, he has run a studio in Boston, making new instruments, performing repairs and restorations of historic instruments, and maintaining and adjusting instruments for musicians.

Kevin is has researched and investigated the original system of design of the violin family and has published articles on the subject in The Strad magazine and presented his research at the Violin Society of America’s annual meetings and the Oberlin Violin Makers’ Workshop.

Kevin is an advisor to the NBSS Violin Making and Repair program and a consultant for the Department of Musical Instruments at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Fine Musical Instrument division of Skinner Auctioneers.

The Distinguished Alumni Award is was established in 2005 to recognize a distinguished graduate from a full-time program. See more winners of the award here.