Violinist, composer, and conductor Efrem Zimbalist (1889 – 1985) was born in Russia. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory from the age of twelve, graduating in 1907. When he was 21 years old, he was already considered one of the world’s best violinists. In 1912, he settled in New York. Zimbalist’s portrait by Edward Steichen was published in Vanity Fair to announce a series of concerts in New York, after he had just returned from a tour that took him around the world.