Managing Director

With Steven at the helm, J & A Beare has developed numerous relationship with the Kronberg Academy, Herenchiemsee Festival and Beare’s Premiere Performances in Hong Kong. In 2016, the company purchased remarkable handwritten original records from celebrated violin dealers W. E. Hill & Sons. The records date back to 1880 and are a unique catalogue within the industry, detailing the purchase and sale history of thousands of the world’s finest instruments.  Along with Beares’ own database and access to the records of Rembert Wurlitzer Co. and other significant dealers, J & A Beare can draw for its research on a wealth of unmatched data which sets the company apart from any other leading dealer. In 2015, together with his then co-director Simon Morris, Steven set up Beares Publishing which, after more than five years of extensive research, is completing the most authoritative work on Stradivari instruments. The landmark collection, to be published in 2022, will comprise six volumes of detailed photos and provenance records, incorporating the most exhaustive study ever compiled of this maker’s work.

To coincide with the publication of the catalogue and working in collaboration with Janine Jansen, Sir Antonio Pappano and Decca Universal, Steven instigated and made possible the exceptional recording of twelve very fine Stradivari violins in one single CD.

At the same time, in association with award-winning director Gerry Fox, a documentary will be shown on Sky Arts in the UK and other international media outlets, covering the making of the documentary.  At Steven’s behest, the soon to be completed J & A Beare fine violin index, audited by KPMG and a first in this space, will demonstrate the attractiveness of fine instruments as an outperforming asset class using the company’s own proprietary data over many decades. J & A Beare’s scientific department will also become operative in 2021, demonstrating once again the approach to the research and study of fine antique string instruments. Steven is an Honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.