Founded in 1999, we are a string instrument rental company dedicated to the
encouragement of music students both young and old, with an emphasis on promoting the appreciation of bowed string instruments. We believe that
a good instrument, if set up professionally with proper measurements,
good strings and quality accessories, will provide a comfortable feel
and produce a better and more gratif
ying sound for even the most
elementary of beginners. In 1999, the late Eric Chapman and his wife
Adina Salmansohn, together with Diana and Lee
Humphrey, founded Adiana String Instruments,
Inc. Eric was on the cutting edge of violin
making in the United States, first as a Founder
and President of the Violin Society of America,
and then as a violin maker/appraiser/dealer. As
President of the VSA, he directed five international
violin making competitions. He was the recipient
of many medals and awards, including the Ysaye
Medallion from the Belgian Government and
a Distinguished Service Plaque from the American
Viola Society. Lee Humphrey is a graduate of Harvard College
and the Harvard Business School.His father was
George Humphrey, who was a member of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra as a violist for fourty-three seasons. In 2007, Lee published his father’s
autobiography, "Becoming A Musician". He has expertise as an international
award-winning concert violinist and recording artist, educator and
expert in the world of string instruments. Since his solo debut at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra at age 12, David has won top prizes at the Ruggiero
Ricci International Violin Competition in Germany,
the Vina del Mar International Violin Competition
in Chile, the International Kloster Schoental Violin Competition, Germany, the Carl Flesch Academy Baden-Baden, and most recently the 2012 Alexander and
Buono International String Competition in New
York. He has toured throughout the United States,
Europe, South America and Asia and published
numerous CD’s and DVD’s. In 2000 the celebrated violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay invited him to give his debut at the inaugural international Starling-DeLay Violin Symposium at the Juilliard School New York, and at the Aspen Music Festival, where he was performing with such artists as Itzhak Perlman. David has previously been Coordinator of Strings at Columbia College Chicago and North Park University Chicago. He has been invited to give guest lectures and master classes at San Francisco State University, Northwestern University, University of Chicago and the "Franz Liszt" Music Academy Weimar, Germany. Students of his string performance program have won national and international competitions.His teachers and mentors include Roland & Almita Vamos, Werner Scholz, Ruggiero Ricci and Dorothy DeLay. In 2002 he founded the Fine Arts Music Society,
which has since produced over 300 concerts, master classes and
four music festivals in Chicago and the Midwest,
with an emphasis on promoting classical music,
new music and young deserving artists. He
graduated with a B.M., M.M. and Soloist Diploma from the Berlin
“Hanns Eisler” Music Academy in 2000 and is an alumnus
of Northwestern University and the Music Institute of Chicago. Associated with the Company is Yumi
Fujimoto, the owner of Opus 1 Violins, our
curator and luthier of instruments. Yumi, a
graduate of the Chicago School of Violin Making,
is in vast demand throughout the U.S. as a maker
and curator of fine string instruments.
