Biography

Aloha!

My name is Michael Wong, owner of Il Violino Cremona LLC in Hawaii.

I was born and raised in Oahu and graduated Moanalua High School.

My shop was established in 2019 and with just 6 years, we grew to become the biggest violin shop in Hawaii, which gets chosen by world-class professionals and boasts the biggest network of over 30 best luthiers around the world.

Our current inventory is several hundreds at the shop, and we are still growing.

Ever since I was in middle school, I had a dream that I wanted to open a violin shop. As a violin player who was born and raised here, I was struggling to find a good instrument with a lot of variety. When I was in high school, I bought a lot of instruments online and got them shipped to Hawaii, but all of the instruments were either not set up and ready to play or were set up so poorly that it hurt my hand when I played due to climate changes during shipment (wood constantly expand and contract).. Some even came with a big crack that wasn’t playable. I tried to do consignment and sold those instruments, but that’s when I realized that it was very difficult to keep up and maintain instruments to be in a sellable condition, so I kind of lost the spark of wanting to open a violin shop.

After High School, I still played violin but my career had shifted to working at a state tax department as an auditor. I loved my job, but one day I had a hard time breathing and fainted at work. I was rushed to the ER, did a lot of tests, but the doctor did not find anything. I was constantly fatigued after that and I had to call in sick for 3 months after that. After 3 months I had to eventually leave my job to focus on bringing my health back.

In January 2019, I was eating dinner at Ala Moana Mall with my wife and my 3-month-old daughter at that time, then my phone started ringing from my friend in Japan. I was surprised since he doesn't really call me, but I picked up my phone and he told me that he wanted to open a violin shop in Hawaii and he wanted me to be the store manager. I was very hesitant at that time, but my wife encouraged me to do it.

In May 31, 2019, we opened up a shop with my partner in Japan, starting with 3 violins. It was a dream come true from my childhood of wanting to open a violin shop.

However, in March 2020, the COVID pandemic hit and we had to temporarily close our shop. My partner was not able to continue, so I had to own the shop on my own. I was very scared, but with the continuous support of my family, teachers, students, and parents, I was able to not just continue but also rapidly grow my shop in just 6 years.

I believe my mission is for Hawaii to have a variety of instruments in the price range and sound / feel / comfort , but also the makers with reliable care for your instrument, and to educate people to grow more individuals to love classical music.

Since my love of violin grows everyday, my journey of finding the best instruments in the world will never end and I am excited to share my greatest finds from traveling all around the world.