Yehudi Menuhin

Described as the greatest violinist of the 20th century, Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) devoted his life to music. To the delight of music lovers, he bequeathed a body of work comprising over three hundred recordings, spread over seventy years of activity since his first session in 1929 at the age of thirteen. A pupil of Louis Persinger, Georges Enesco and Adolf Busch, the virtuoso quickly established an international reputation that was hampered by the Second World War. A partner to legendary conductors (from Bruno Walter to Wilhelm Furtwängler), he built his own legend on pieces by J.S. Bach and the great concertos of the repertoire. Settling in the UK in 1959, he became a Knight of the Empire in 1965, a British citizen in 1985 and a Peer of the Realm (Baron) in 1993. A humanist and committed musician, he created the Gstaad Festival, a School of Music and a Foundation for young musicians, all the while rubbing shoulders with the world's greats. His collaborations with Ravi Shankar(West Meets East, 1966) and Stéphane Grappelli bear witness to his exceptional open-mindedness and vision. Passing away at the age of 82, he felt and played music to his last breath, leaving an incomparable body of work.