Joan Balter studied violin at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division and the High School of Music and Art, and has a degree in music, psychology and acoustical physics. She learned her craft at the Violin Making School of America, and moved to the Bay Area where she apprenticed at Cremona Violin Makers and Dealers in San Francisco. At Berkeley's Balter Violins, she repairs, appraises, buys and sells stringed instruments. She has given numerous workshops and seminars on violin making, repair and buying instruments and bows and is the official luthier of the Aspen Music Festival and School.