In 1940, Zacharias was discovered by Lindström-Electrola (then-name of the German branch of EMI) and in 1941 had his first mainstream success with Schönes Wetter Heute. By the 1950s, he was considered to be one of the best jazz violinists of Europe and was dubbed "The Magic Violinist" and "Germany's Mr. Violin". In 1956 he achieved his greatest success in the United States with the release of "When the White Lilacs Bloom Again" which, on September 22, reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. On 21 November 1964 he reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart with Tokyo Melody, following its use as theme music for the BBC's coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.  ... Read more

In 1940, Zacharias was discovered by Lindström-Electrola (then-name of the German branch of EMI) and in 1941 had his first mainstream success with Schönes Wetter Heute. By the 1950s, he was considered to be one of the best jazz violinists of Europe and was dubbed "The Magic Violinist" and "Germany's Mr. Violin". In 1956 he achieved his greatest success in the United States with the release of "When the White Lilacs Bloom Again" which, on September 22, reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. On 21 November 1964 he reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart with Tokyo Melody, following its use as theme music for the BBC's coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.  ... Read more

From Album: "Die 12 Cellisten Der Berliner Philharmoniker ~ As Time Goes By"

The 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic (Die 12 Cellisten der Berliner Philharmoniker) are 12 cellists, members of the Berlin Philharmonic as the name implies, who perform and record as an all-cello ensemble.

The group first took stage on Easter Monday in 1974 at the Salzburg Mozarteum. Since that occasion, the group has astonished the world with the rare sounds and the tonal combination that a group of cellos produce.

Among the pieces they have recorded, Klengel's 'Hymnus' is an example of how each individual in a 12-cello choir can contribute a vital part of a musical whole.   ~ Read more…

From Album: "Didier Lockwood ~ For Stéphane [2008]"

Didier Lockwood (born February 11, 1956) is a French jazz violinist.

Didier Lockwood has had a diverse career, ranging from fusion to swing and advanced hard bop. In the 1980s, he was considered the next in a line of great French violinists after Stephane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty, but he maintained a fairly low profile in the 1990s. Lockwood began studying violin when he was six. Ten years later, he stopped his formal training and joined a rock group. He played in Paris with Aldo Romano and Daniel Humair, among others, met Grappelli and toured with him. He had a fusion group called Surya and recorded with Tony Williams around the same period of time (1979). Didier Lockwood played in the United States on several occasions in the 1980s and recorded an acoustic album in 1986 with fellow violinists John Blake and Michal Urbaniak.  ~ From All Music Guide

From Album: "Helmut Zacharias ~ Lust Auf Gefuhl"

Helmut Zacharias (January 27, 1920-February 28, 2002) was a German violinist. He started having lessons at the age of 4. At 6 he played at the cabaret Faun in Berlin and had his first radio broadcast five years later. In the 1950s he was considered to be one of the best jazz violinists of Europe. He played together with many other famous artists, including Yehudi Menuhin and had his own TV show from 1968 to 1973. He died in 2002 in Tessin, Switzerland.   ~ From Wiki

From Album: "Andre Rieu ~ The 100 Most Beautiful Melodies (CD5)".

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born October 1, 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating an international revival in waltz music with his "Johann Strauss Orchestra". In April 2009 (Australia) /June 2009 (UK), he made a cameo appearance as himself on "Ramsay Street" in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours.

André Rieu was born into a musical family on October 1, 1949 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He began studying violin at the age of five. His father was a conductor. From a very young age he developed a fascination with orchestra. He studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and in the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973). His teachers included Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers. From 1974 to 1977, he attended the Music Academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler, winning the Premier Prix at the academy. .. ~  more info from Wiki…

André Rieu (official website)

From Album: "Andre Rieu ~ The 100 Most Beautiful Melodies (CD4)".

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born October 1, 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating an international revival in waltz music with his "Johann Strauss Orchestra". In April 2009 (Australia) /June 2009 (UK), he made a cameo appearance as himself on "Ramsay Street" in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours.

André Rieu was born into a musical family on October 1, 1949 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He began studying violin at the age of five. His father was a conductor. From a very young age he developed a fascination with orchestra. He studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and in the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973). His teachers included Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers. From 1974 to 1977, he attended the Music Academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler, winning the Premier Prix at the academy. .. ~  more info from Wiki…

André Rieu (official website)

From Album: "Andre Rieu ~ The 100 Most Beautiful Melodies (CD4)"

André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu (born October 1, 1949) is a Dutch violinist, conductor, and composer best known for creating an international revival in waltz music with his "Johann Strauss Orchestra". In April 2009 (Australia) /June 2009 (UK), he made a cameo appearance as himself on "Ramsay Street" in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours.

André Rieu was born into a musical family on October 1, 1949 in Maastricht in the Netherlands. He began studying violin at the age of five. His father was a conductor. From a very young age he developed a fascination with orchestra. He studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and in the Conservatorium Maastricht, (1968–1973). His teachers included Jo Juda and Herman Krebbers. From 1974 to 1977, he attended the Music Academy in Brussels, studying with André Gertler, winning the Premier Prix at the academy. .. ~  more info from Wiki…

André Rieu (official website)

From Album: "Roby Lakatos ~ As Time Goes By: Film Music",  Roby Lakatos, the "devil's fiddler", is a gypsy violinist from Hungary. He is renowned for his mix of classical music with Hungarian-gypsy music and jazz themes.

Gypsy violinist Roby Lakatos is not only a scorching virtuoso, but a musician of extraordinary stylistic versatility. Equally comfortable performing classical music as he is playing jazz and his own Hungarian folk idiom, Lakatos is the rare musician who defies definition. He is referred to as a gypsy violinist or ‘devil’s fiddler’, a classical virtuoso, a jazz improviser, a composer and arranger, and a 19th-century throwback, and he is actually all of these things at once. He is the kind of universal musician so rarely encountered in our time—a player whose strength as an interpreter derives from his activities as an improviser and composer. He has performed in the great halls and festivals of Europe, Asia and America.

Born in 1965 into the legendary family of gypsy violinists descended from Janos Bihari, ‘King of Gypsy Violinists’, Roby Lakatos was introduced to music as a child and at the age of nine he made his public debut as first violin in a gypsy band. His musicianship evolved not only within his own family but also at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Budapest, where he won the first prize for classical violin in 1984. Between 1986 and 1996, he and his ensemble delighted audiences at ‘Les Atéliers de la Grande Ille’ in Brussels, their musical home throughout this period. He has collaborated with Vadim Repin and Stéphane Grappelli, and his playing was greatly admired by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who always made a point of visiting the club in Brussels to hear Lakatos. In March 2004, Lakatos appeared to great acclaim with the London Symphony Orchestra in the orchestra’s ‘Genius of the Violin’ festival alongside Maxim Vengerov.  ~ Read more from Wiki

Roby's official website

From Album: "Stephane Grappelli ~ Stephane Grappelli",  Stéphane Grappelli (26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997) was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first (and arguably the most famous) of all-string jazz bands.

One of the all-time great jazz violinists (ranking with Joe Venuti and Stuff Smith as one of the big three of pre-bop), Stéphane Grappelli's longevity and consistently enthusiastic playing did a great deal to establish the violin as a jazz instrument. He was originally self-taught as both a violinist and a pianist, although during 1924-28 he studied at the Paris Conservatoire. Grappelli played in movie theaters and dance bands before meeting guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1933. They hit it off musically from the start even though their lifestyles (Grappelli was sophisticated while Django was a gypsy) were very different. Together as Quintet of the Hot Club of France (comprised of violin, three acoustic guitars and bass) during 1933-39 they produced a sensational series of recordings and performances. During a London engagement in 1939, World War II broke out. Reinhardt rashly decided to return to France but Grappelli stayed in England, effectively ending the group. The violinist soon teamed up with the young pianist George Shearing in a new band that worked steadily through the war. In 1946, Grappelli and Reinhardt had the first of several reunions although they never worked together again on a regular basis (despite many new recordings). Grappelli performed throughout the 1950s and '60s in clubs throughout Europe and, other than recordings with Duke Ellington (Violin Summit) and Joe Venuti, he remained somewhat obscure in the U.S. until he began regularly touring the world in the early '70s. Since then Grappelli has been a constant traveler and a consistent poll-winner, remaining very open-minded without altering his swing style; he has recorded with David Grisman, Earl Hines, Bill Coleman, Larry Coryell, Oscar Peterson, Jean Luc Ponty and McCoy Tyner among many others. Active up until near the end, the increasingly frail Grappelli remained at the top of his field even when he was 89. His early recordings are all available on Classics CDs and he recorded quite extensively during his final three decades.     ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide