Lara St. John

Violinist

A childhood violin prodigy who reportedly began playing at age 2, Lara St. John graduated from Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music when she was only 17. She quickly became known as a fiery soloist who mixed talent with a heavy dose of sex appeal; the famous cover of her 1996 album Bach Works for Violin Solo featured St. John naked except for a carefully-placed violin. Music videos of classics-gone-pop and a marketing campaign that cast her as a pop phenom caused a slight backlash among the classical music set, but her obvious talent has won over a loyal audience. Her other albums include Gypsy (1997), Re: Bach (2003) and Bach: The Six Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Solo (2007).

Extra credit: St. Johns' producer on re: Bach was Magnus Fiennes, brother of actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes... Her home page says that St. John "is a great fan of J.R.R. Tolkien."

Other popular classical musicians of the 20th century include cellist Yo-Yo Ma, keyboardist Wendy Carlos and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.