"Violinist.com Interviews, Volume 2" features exclusive, one-on-one interviews conducted over the last six years with 26 of today's best-known Midori Goto, Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn, James Ehnes, Rachel Barton Pine, Augustin Hadelich, Ray Chen, Tai Murray, Anne Akiko Meyers, Julian Rachlin, Aaron Rosand, Daniel Heifetz, Jennifer Koh, Philippe Quint, Daniel Hope, Lindsey Stirling, Alexander Markov, Frank Almond, Nathan Cole, Deborah Borda, Daishin Kashimoto, Rachel Podger, Jinjoo Cho, Terry Borman, Ning Feng, Mayu Kishima and Vera Tsu Weiling. Laurie Niles' in-depth interviews paint a wide-ranging picture of the various lives of a diverse group of violinists from four continents, including soloists, orchestra leaders, a baroque specialist, an orchestra CEO, a pop culture phenomenon and even a seasoned violin-maker. "Laurie has done an astonishing job of capturing each person's voice and personality," writes the award-winning violin soloist and recording artist Rachel Barton Pine in her foreword. "The story of the violin is still being written. Laurie Niles, with this volume of interviews, makes a remarkable contribution to our shared history."
Laurie Niles was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Aurora, Colorado. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and her Master of Arts in Journalism from Indiana University. After working for five years as a newspaper reporter, Laurie and her husband, Robert, founded the online musician community Violinist.com in 1996, which today reaches more than 200,000 readers a month.
As editor of Violinist.com, Laurie has written hundreds of articles and interviewed countless violinists and classical musicians. Laurie also has written articles for The Strad magazine, Symphony magazine and the American Suzuki Journal. She lives in Pasadena, California, where she also teaches violin and freelances as a violinist.