Frank Peter Zimmermann

Frank Peter Zimmermann is a German violinist born on February 27, 1965 (Heifetz was 63 years old.) He began playing at age five and gave his first concert with orchestra by the age of 10. Zimmermann has concertized worldwide since 1983. He has recorded most of the standard repertoire on EMI but also records for Teldec. There are many good videos of him on YouTube and he has appeared with every major orchestra in the world. Here is one of those videos. As far as I can tell, he does not have a page on MySpace, as many other violinists do. His violin is a 1711 Stradivarius.

Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer is a German violinist and conductor born on February 27, 1947 (Heifetz was 45 years old). He lived in Russia with his family (he is Russian-born) until 1980, when he moved to Germany. He began his studies with his father at age four and later studied with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. From 1967 onwards, he entered and placed in the top three places in several competitions, finally winning the first prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1970. He made his German debut in 1975 and in New York in 1976. He has toured the world ever since. He can be heard on many CDs and can be seen on several videos on YouTube. It is said he plays an old Amati violin.

Frank Bridge

Frank Bridge was an English violinist and composer born on February 26, 1879 (Brahms was 46 years old.) From 1899 until 1903, he studied at the Royal College of Music. He played the viola in a number of string quartets before going into composition. He also taught privately. He wrote a considerable amount of chamber music, now played mostly in England. He is also famous for something called the Bridge chord which is simply a Major seventh chord with a flat nine and major thirteenth thrown in – nothing unusual. There are numerous recordings of his music available. Bridge died in January, 1941.

Niels Gade

Niels Wilhelm Gade was a Danish violinist, composer, conductor, teacher, and organist born on February 22, 1817 (Beethoven was already 47 years old.) He is considered the most important Danish musician of his day. Gade began his career in 1834 as a violinist with the Royal Danish Orchestra. Nine years later, Gade’s first symphony was conducted by none other than Felix Mendelssohn in 1843. Both Schumann and Mendelssohn became his friends during the five years Gade spent in Leipzig. When Mendelssohn died, Gade was made chief conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig (1847.) Unfortunately, he had to give it up the following year - don’t ask me why. Back in Denmark, Gade became director of several musical institutions, taught at the Copenhagen Conservatory (where his pupils included Grieg and Nielsen), and played organ in various churches. Among his works (which are seldom performed) are 8 symphonies, a violin concerto, and several cantatas. Gade died on December 21, 1890, at age 73. 

Zvi Zeitlin

Zvi Zeitlin is a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Dubrovna, Belarus) on February 21, 1923. Zeitlin is known for his robust and clean sound. He first studied with his father but from age 11, he studied at the Juilliard School (New York) with Sascha Jacobsen, Ivan Galamian, and Louis Persinger - at the time, he was the youngest scholarship recipient ever admitted to Juilliard.  Sarah Chang now holds that distinct honor.  He later studied in Jerusalem (Hebrew University) where he made his debut in 1940. He was 17 years old.  Louis Persinger and Ivan Galamian are famous for having taught some of the world's leading violinists - Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Ruggiero Ricci, Michael Rabin, Eugene Fodor, Pinchas Zukerman, and Itzhak Perlman are among them.  Zeitlin's U.S. debut was made in New York's Town Hall in 1951. He first played with the New York Philharmonic, with which he appeared numerous times, on February 2, 1961.  He chose the Stravinsky concerto on that occasion.  Also in 1961, Zeitlin made his London debut. Since the early 1950s, Zeitlin has concertized extensively throughout the world. He played world premieres of concertos by Gunther Schuller, Paul Ben-Haim, and Carlos Surinach.  As far as I know, he is still on the faculty of the Eastman School where he first began teaching in 1967. From 1976 to 1982 he played with the Eastman (Piano) Trio, of which he was a founding member. He plays a 1734 Guarnerius del Gesu violin, although he owns and plays other violins.  Zeitlin has recorded extensively for various labels and his CDs are quite easy to find on the internet. His recording of the Schoenberg violin concerto can be found here.  Although he did not record this concerto with the New York Philharmonic, he played it with that orchestra on January 5, 1967.  There are a few videos of his playing on YouTube as well.  You can listen to one here. 

P.S. Zvi Zeitlin died on May 2, 2012, at age 89. He gave a farewell recital in February of 2012, intending to retire in the summer of 2012.  Only Roman Totenberg, Ivry Gitlis, and Joseph Zigeti have played recitals at that age. 

Charles De Beriot

Charles Auguste de Bériot was a Belgian violinist and composer born on February 20, 1802 (Beethoven was 32 years old.) It is said that his playing was influenced by Viotti, Baillot, and Paganini. He toured Europe extensively and was chamber violinist to King Charles the Tenth of France and King William the First of the Netherlands. In 1843, De Beriot became a professor of violin at the Brussels Conservatory. His best known pupil was Henri Vieuxtemps. He retired from that post in 1852. His compositions are varied and he wrote no less than 10 violin concertos. He is remembered for his violin etude books which are still in use today. De Beriot died in 1870.

Gil Shaham

Gil Shaham is an American violinist born on February 19, 1971. He began his violin studies in Israel and made his public debut at age 10 with the Jerusalem Symphony and with the Israel Philharmonic at age 11. He entered the Juilliard School (New York) in 1982 where he studied with Dorothy Delay, among others. Since age 17, Shaham has concertized extensively. He has recorded most of the standard repertoire and his CDs are easy to find. You can also see him on several videos on YouTube. Shaham plays a 1699 Stradivarius with a fancy name.