Violin

The hip-hop violin duo Nuttin? But Stringz entertained 200 rapt children from area day camps yesterday at the Kimmel Center, as part of Welcome America?s Go 4th and Learn series. Brothers Tourie and Damien Escobar took up the violin more than a decade ago while growing up in New York City. They have worked their way up from playing the subway to a gig last month at the White House. Watch video of Nuttin' But Stringz at the Kimmel Center at http://go.philly.com/hiphopstrings

Andy Rooney, in his column about dinner with the Paars (Dec. 28), tries to make a point by saying "there are people who'd pay to listen to Vladimir Horowitz when he was just amusing himself on the violin. " However, it is very doubtful there are people who would do that, because Mr. Horowitz, by all accounts, has not yet switched to violin playing. He still is a world-renowned piano virtuoso. Juhan Kangur Bridgeton, N.J.

It is easy telling twin sisters Hannah and Sarah Eldridge apart. First, there is the reddish-brown hair: Sarah's is longer. There are the musical instruments: Hannah plays violin, and Sarah plays piano. There are the track events: Hannah is a long-distance runner for Strath Haven, and Sarah specializes in the high jump and the triple jump for the Panthers. There also is the matter of "Springtime in the Alps. " It is a piano piece that gave Hannah so much trouble that she turned to the violin at age 8. For Sarah, the piece is not a particularly tough mountain to climb.

Albert Heckers runs his fingers through his shock of white hair and gives the antique ice cream parlor stool in his shed a little twirl before perching on it. An assortment of pieces from a century-old violin lay scattered on the fluffy pink towel that covers the work table in front of him. As he picks up one of the pieces, prepared to begin the delicate task of sanding, his eyes twinkle with the thrill of returning one more violin to its former...

REGINA CARTER, Wiggins Park Riverstage, Camden, 8 tonight. Free. Info: 609-216-2170. OWEN "FIDDLER" BROWN, Zanzibar Blue, Broad and Walnut streets, 8:30, 10 and 11:30 tonight. No cover. Info: 215-732-4500. In classical music, the violin is king. It reins over the brass and woodwinds and receives the bulk of attention from composers. But in jazz, the violin is a lowly serf - barely tolerated by some musicians, viewed as an oddity by others. In this unfriendly environment live Regina Carter and Owen "Fiddler" Brown, who perform tonight in the Philadelphia area - Carter at Wiggins Park Riverstage in Camden, and Brown at Zanzibar Blue in Center City.

Caryn Lin began taking violin lessons at the age of 9, and from that point on it seemed apparent she would be performing on that instrument for many years. "I just wasn't able to think of anything else I wanted to do with my life," she said. What she ended up doing with the violin is not quite what she or her parents had in mind as she progressed with her studies. Lin's education included studying with Philadelphia Orchestra violinist Larry Grika, a degree in violin performance from Northwestern University, and sessions with German violin virtuoso Susanne Lautenbacher.

Emile Gogineni was in first grade when he decided he wanted to be a violinist, but his mother, April Gogineni, had other ideas. "She wanted me to play the piano, but I didn't want to," Emile said. "I knew I wanted to play the violin ever since I heard a violin performance at school. I convinced her when I was in second grade. " Now 10, Emile is the youngest member of the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra, said the conductor, Louis Scaglione. The orchestra is scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at Valley Forge Military Academy.

A glance at the audience that turned out to hear Itzhak Perlman on Thursday night at the Academy of Music spoke volumes about his career, which this month entered its 30th year. There, you think, is an older, fur-clad woman who might have seen him on The Ed Sullivan Show. Over there is a teenager in cutoff shorts and a ski cap who probably first heard Perlman's name from Big Bird. And everywhere, it's safe to assume, are Republicans who remember him fondly as a White House pet of Ronald Reagan's.

A one-composer concert - like the one violinist Young Uck Kim and pianist Christoph Eschenbach played for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Saturday night at the Port of History Museum - runs the risk of monotony, even if the composer is the sublime Mozart. Kim and Eschenbach averted that risk through skill, poise - not even a creaking door in the balcony, which interrupted the first piece, ruffled them for long - and careful programming. There were four works on the program - the violin sonatas in C major (K. 296)

Lolita of the lagoon? Stella Maris? Venus of the vibrato? What to name Vanessa-Mae, the 17-year-old violinist who leads her band into the Theater of the Living Arts tomorrow night? Naming is crucial, if the buzz around this new face in the crowd of young violin virtuosi can be measured. Is she the intense concert artist whose recordings include the compulsory Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Bruch repertoire? Is she the pop artist with a sea-drenched music video, her eyes penetrating yours over the white electric violin, her body shouting "Oooh!"