Violinist

A violinist is an instrumentalist who plays the violin. The terms fiddler or fiddle player are also used. In classical music the "fiddle" terms are usually somewhat informal or jokey: they are more standard expressions in folk music. In between there are nuances of meaning and usage which are difficult to formalize.

Composer-violinists were common in the Baroque era - Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli and Pietro Locatelli all played the violin. In the early 19th century, Niccolo Paganini did much to expand the instrument's technique. Other notable 19th century violinists include Joseph Joachim (who was friends with Johannes Brahms), Leopold Auer (who taught many famous violinists of following generations), Pablo de Sarasate and Eugene Ysaye.

Among significant later players are:

• Joshua Bell
• Willi Boskovsky
• Sarah Chang
• Stephanie Chase
• Vassar Clements (Bluegrass, Country, Jazz)
• Mischa Elman
• Carl Flesch
• Pamela Frank
• Mayumi Fujikawa
• Zino Francescatti
• Ivry Gitlis
• Stephane Grappelli (jazz)
• Arthur Grumiaux
• Ida Haendel
• Hilary Hahn
• Jascha Heifetz
• Bronislav Hubermann
• Monica Huggett
• Leila Josefowicz
• Nigel Kennedy
• Leonid Kogan
• Herman Krebbers
• Fritz Kreisler
• Gidon Kremer
• Jan Kubelík
• Tasmin Little
• Vanessa Mae
• Yehudi Menuhin
• Midori
• Nathan Milstein
• Viktoria Mullova
• Anne Sophie Mutter
• Jeannette Neveu
• David Oistrakh
• Itzhak Perlman
• Oscar Shumsky
• Nils-Erik Sparf
• Simon Standage
• Isaac Stern
• Josef Suk
• Henryk Szeryng
• Jacques Thibaud
• Maxim Vengerov
• Pinchas Zukerman

Popular music violinist, including fiddlers

• Tracy Bonham
• Petra Haden
• Ashley MacIsaac