David Garrett (born September 4, 1980, in Aachen, under the name David Bongartz) is a German violinist. He is the son of Georg P. Bongartz, a German lawyer and passionate amateur violinist, and Dove Garrett, a North American prima ballerina.
Considered a “Wunderkind” (child prodigy), David received his first violin at the age of four. He studied with private teachers, including Zakhar Bron, a Russian-Jewish violinist living in Germany (1990–1991), and later with Ida Haendel starting in 1992.
At just 14 years old, he signed a contract with the music label Deutsche Grammophon, adopting the stage name David Garrett, after his mother’s surname. In 1999, he began studying under Itzhak Perlman at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Garrett is considered one of the best contemporary violinists. During his concerts, he plays a 1710 Stradivarius violin, worth several million dollars.
He is also listed in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the fastest violinists in the world, performing Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” in a record time of 66 seconds (13 notes per second).
