From 1973 to 1977, Iizuka apprenticed under and worked for Josef Kantuscher, Geigenbaumeister, in Mittenwald, Germany. He acquired a Journeyman’s diploma from the German Chamber of Handwork in 1974, with a prize for the violin made for the examination.
Iizuka established his own shop in Pennsylvania in the United States in 1977. Since then, he has worked predominantly in the building of new instruments. Besides the traditional style of violin-family instruments, he developed his own model of a “viola d’amore” style viola in 1979, and the “rubenesque” model in 1992. Over the past 30 years, Iizuka has made more than 270 instruments that are being played worldwide, over half of which are violas. He has made 7 celli to date.
Track 1: Scott Slapin's Elegy-Caprice (Scott Slapin, viola)
Track 2: Scott Slapin's Nocturne for Two Violas (Scott Slapin & Tanya Solomon, violas)
Track 3: J. S. Bach's Chaconne from the Second Partita (Scott Slapin , viola)
Track 4: Scott Slapin's The Hassid and the Hayseed (Scott Slapin, viola & Margi Ramsey, cello)
Track 5: Nicolo Paganini's Caprice No. 13 'The Devil's Laughter' (Scott Slapin, viola)