When The New York Times published its story, “The Hunt for a 316-Year-Old Stradivarius Stolen in the Fog of War,” one of the central figures behind the discovery was Cal Poly Humboldt alum Carla Shapreau (‘83, Special Major).
The violin, known as the 1709 Mendelssohn Stradivarius, was believed to have been plundered during the chaos at the end of World War II and lost forever. But when Shapreau—an expert in cultural property and the history of Nazi-era looted musical objects—discovered online images in June 2024 of a Tokyo Stradivari 2018 exhibition, something caught her attention.
Among the instruments was a violin named “Stella,” dated 1707, that bore striking similarities to the long-missing Mendelssohn, reportedly named by a former owner because the violin’s sound “twinkled like a star.”.
It was a remarkable find that linked Shapreau’s deep knowledge of music, art, and law—fields she has spent decades bridging through research, teaching, violin making, and the practice of law.
Today, she is a Senior Fellow in the Institute of European Studies at UC Berkeley, where she directs the Lost Music Project, investigating the Nazi-era looting of Europe’s musical heritage. She also serves as Curator of the Ansley K. Salz Stringed Instrument Collection and teaches art and cultural property law at Berkeley Law. Her work has been supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, and her research continues to shed light on how music, history, and justice intertwine.
Before her distinguished career as a scholar, curator, and attorney, Shapreau’s story began at Cal Poly Humboldt. She arrived on campus planning to major in Biology—but one day changed everything.
“I heard a student playing the violin on the patio in front of the music and art buildings, and I was so stunned by the sound that I immediately signed up for Professor John Brecher’s beginning strings class,” Shapreau says. Borrowing a campus violin, she began playing for the first time.
Her curiosity quickly turned to craftsmanship when she discovered a book in the Humboldt Library titled You Can Make a Stradivarius. That discovery led her to apprentice with Oregon-based violin maker Victor Gardener, where she spent a summer living in her VW bus and crafting her first violin and viola.
At Humboldt, Shapreau was part of the interdisciplinary “cluster” program, designing her own major that combined music, art, and industrial arts. She studied violin, viola, oboe, and piano; played in the opera orchestra and chamber ensembles; and found inspiration in mentors like professors John Brecher, Floyd Glende, and Tom Jones.
Though she left Humboldt for several years to pursue violin making full-time, Shapreau later returned to complete her degree, graduating magna cum laude in 1983.
Reflecting on her Humboldt experience, she says, "It is probably accurate to say that I would be doing something completely different if I had not heard that violin student in my freshman year on the Humboldt campus, hadn’t met and had the support of Professor John Brecher as my first string teacher, and hadn’t seen that book on violin making in the campus library. In addition, the opportunity to return to campus to complete my degree contributed to my subsequent graduate education. Humboldt gave me the freedom to explore ideas and curriculum with the support of caring and expert professors."
Photo by Max Thill