Her classical music biography leads with the cities whose orchestras she's soloed with, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Budapest, among others. We also learn she was a child prodigy who made her solo debut at age seven and has worked with numerous famous conductors - Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Placido Domingo and Charles Dutoit to name a few. Hailed as “the most charismatic, the most virtuosic, and the most compelling American violinist of her generation,” her instrument is one of the most important in the world, the “ex-Soldat” violin made in 1742 by Guarneri del Gesu.

Yet like any young woman who came of age in the Nineties, violinist Rachel Barton Pine is equally inclined to talk about the musical loves of her life far from the sonatas and concertos she practices and which constitute her current professional life. She may have intensely researched the musical relationship between Johannes Brahms and violinist Joseph Joachim for her GRAMMY-nominated 2003 Cedille recording "Brahms & Joachim Violin Concertos," but when she says, "They jammed together all the time," we can see her rock sensibility shine through. She can reel off a list of her favorite rock bands -- Van Halen, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Metallica, Pantera, Slayer and Megadeth -- as readily as she can talk about these 19th-century composers.

Rachel's ability to see the connecting threads in these very disparate musical forms primes her to be the perfect bridge between generations of music fans. She sees herself as an artistic ambassador, introducing the pleasures of classical music to legions of new listeners. In the process, she has broken through every possible stereotype people may have of a modern classical musician. Folks in her native Chicago have enjoyed her performances of the National Anthem at Bulls and Cubs games. She was one of the torchbearers in the 1996 Olympic torch relay and appeared in the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games in Atlanta - the same month she played at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. She has even opened at the House of Blues for Slash (from Guns N' Roses) and Sammy Hagar, performed with Plant and Page (from Led Zeppelin), and numerous photos on her MySpace page show her hanging backstage with many of her favorite rock heroes. Those who have never visited a concert hall can see and hear her playing and talking about music on her weekly podcast and YouTube video channel.