A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari, during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are considered some of the finest instruments ever made, and are extremely valuable collector's items.
Eugène-Auguste Ysaÿe was a Belgian virtuoso violinist, composer, and conductor. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tsar".
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.
Sephira also known as Sephira - The Irish Rock Violinists are an Irish band consisting of sisters Joyce and Ruth O'Leary, who both play the violin and provide vocals.
Turlough O'Carolan was a blind Celtic harper, composer and singer in Ireland whose great fame is due to his gift for melodic composition.
Sarah Henrietta Purser RHA was an Irish artist mainly noted for her portraiture. She was the first woman to become a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy. She also founded and financially supported An Túr Gloine, a stained glass studio.
The sonatas and partitas for solo violin are a set of six works composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. They are sometimes referred to in English as the sonatas and partias for solo violin in accordance with Bach's headings in the autograph manuscript: "Partia" was commonly used in German-speaking regions during Bach's time, whereas the Italian "partita" was introduced to this set in the 1879 Bach Gesellschaft edition, having become standard by that time. The set consists of three sonatas da chiesa in four movements and three partitas in dance-form movements. The 2nd Partita is widely known for its Chaconne, considered one of the most masterly and expressive works ever written for solo violin.
L'estro armonico, Op. 3, is a set of 12 concertos for string instruments by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, first published in Amsterdam in 1711. Vivaldi's Twelve Trio Sonatas, Op. 1, and Twelve Violin Sonatas, Op. 2, only contained sonatas, thus L'estro armonico was his first collection of concertos appearing in print. It was also the first time he chose a foreign publisher, Estienne Roger, instead of an Italian. Each concerto was printed in eight parts: four violins, two violas, cello and continuo. The continuo part was printed as a figured bass for violone and harpsichord.
Gaetano Pugnani was an Italian composer and violinist.
Maddalena Sirmen was an Italian composer, violinist, and singer.
Brian Patrick Boydell was an Irish composer whose works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, and songs. He was Professor of Music at Trinity College Dublin for 20 years, founder of the Dowland Consort, conductor of the Dublin Orchestral Players, and a prolific broadcaster and writer on musical matters. He was also a prolific musicologist specialising in 18th-century Irish musical history.
Tommaso Giordani was an Italian composer active in England and particularly in Ireland.
Gwendolyn Masin is a Dutch-Irish violinist, musicologist, author, and educator.
Ina Boyle was an Irish composer. Her compositions encompass a broad spectrum of genres and include choral, chamber and orchestral works as well as opera, ballet and vocal music. While a number of her works, including The Magic Harp (1919), Colin Clout (1921), Gaelic Hymns (1923–24), Glencree (1924-27) and Wildgeese (1942), received acknowledgement and first performances, the majority of her compositions remained unpublished and unperformed during her lifetime.
Alice Barbara Verne-Bredt was an English piano teacher, violinist and composer. Three of her sisters were also noted pianists: Adela Verne, Mathilde Verne and Mary Würm.
Gerald Harman Walenn was a British violinist and composer of classical music.
Lillian Shattuck (1857–1940) was an early American violinist. A student of Julius Eichberg in Boston, in the late 1880s she established a string quartet consisting only of women, the first of its kind in the United States. The other members of the quartet were Lillian Chandler, violin, Leslie Launder, cello and Abbie Shepardson, viola.
Jérôme Paul Bonaventure Alday was a French violinist, composer and music publisher who spent most of his active career in Dublin, Ireland. He was the only composer in early 19th-century Ireland known to have written symphonies.
Daphne Godson, LRAM was an international award winning violinist and co-founder of the Scottish Baroque Ensemble.
