When classical musician Jascha Heifetz died aged 86 in 1987, 'Gramophone
Magazine' called him "the most innovative and influential violinist" of the 20th
century. Over 75 years he was acclaimed for what the 'New York Times' called his
"silken tone and technical perfection".
Born in Vilna, which was then within the Russian Empire and is now in Lithuania,
his talent was observed while he was an infant by his concertmaster father who
taught the violin. A child prodigy, at the age of five he began to study with
Leopold Auer and at nine he attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory. ...