Johanna Kronthaler
Johanna Kronthaler was born in Munich in 1969 and grew up in Landsberg am Lech. As a child her interest in music developed through piano lessons, which led to her discovery of the clarinet at the age of 9. She played the clarinet until she graduated from school to join the Karl Hammerschmidt company in Burgau as a woodwind instrument maker. 3 Years later she received her qualifications in instrument making.
In the same year she married the clarinettist and teacher Otto Kronthaler and moved with him to Ottelmannshausen. There she opened her first shop in the form of a specialist shop for clarinet accessories. A repair workshop was installed in the back, in which she and her husband later researched and developed the “Kronthaler Clarinets”.
In 1994 Johanna completed her master's examination in instrument making and shortly afterwards the Kronthalers moved to Bad Neustadt. Here they had larger workshops for the development of their clarinets. Johanna finished a handmade bass clarinet desigend by her husband. It was characterized by the combination of the Boehm system with the German finger system. For this clarinet she was awarded the title of "master instrument maker" ("Holzblasinstrumentenmachermeisterin"). In 1998 she left the clarinet business to have more time in the workshop. In 2005 Johanna moved to Karlsruhe, where her husband had already been working for many years.
