Jonathan Cooper, Maine musician and master violin maker, dies at 76
Jonathan Cooper, a Portland violin maker and musician whose handcrafted instruments were prized by some of the world’s leading players, died Monday at age 76 after recent health struggles and an unexpected decline.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1950 and raised in New Jersey, Cooper first pursued music as a guitarist before discovering violin making during a 1979 band tour of Italy. After visiting Cremona, he quit the band and apprenticed there for three years, beginning a career that produced more than 500 instruments for orchestral and bluegrass musicians alike.
In Portland, his shop Acoustic Artisans became a cultural hub in the Hay Building before relocating to the State Theatre building around 2018. Beyond building violins, the space hosted concerts, lessons, and swing dancing. He met his wife, Liz Bieber, at a house concert while playing in a band called Chicken Wire, and the couple hosted monthly music jams.
Bieber remembered him Tuesday as “a really kind, loving, old-school, musician’s musician” whose life centered on music and community. She shared messages from grief-stricken customers, including one who wrote that Cooper “allowed me to speak my truth through his violin.”
Known for his infectious personality and adventurous spirit—skateboarding as a youth, hitchhiking to Martha’s Vineyard at 16, and boating and fishing throughout his life—Cooper also possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of violin history. Fellow musician Michael Doucet, who toured with Alison Krauss and played exclusively on a Cooper-made fiddle, said the instruments had “the magic touch” and that Cooper could “eat more than you, fish more than you and make violins better than you.”
Jenny Van West credited Cooper with launching her fiddle career, noting he accepted a 1951 Chevy pickup as payment for the instrument, which now belongs to her youngest son, a Berklee graduate.
Survivors include Bieber, their three sons Amos, Seth and Wyatt, his first wife Leanne Daniels Cooper, brother Matthew, sister Ellen, and extended family. A funeral service is set for 10 a.m. Thursday at Jones, Rich & Barnes Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St., Portland.
