Elizabeth Pitcairn

Pitcairn champions new music, and commissioned a violin concerto from one of Sweden's leading composers, Tommie Haglund, titled Hymns to Night. She premiered this work with the Swedish Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra in 2005, and the concert was broadcast throughout Sweden. The work was nominated for a 2011 Swedish Grammi. She performed for the international press at Christie's of New York, which invited her to demonstrate another Stradivarius, and gave interviews to CNN, CNBC, Fox News, Reuters, WNYC-FM, Scotland's Radio Sound, The Associated Press and The New York Times.

Elizabeth Pitcairn (born December 5, 1973) is an American classical violinist and heiress to the PPG fortune. She has concertized widely as a soloist and is noted for performing on the 1720 Red Mendelssohn Antonio Stradivari violin that is said to have inspired the film The Red Violin.

Pitcairn was born into a musical family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her mother, cello player Mary Eleanor (Brace) Pitcairn, received a master's degree from Juilliard. Her father Laren Pitcairn trained to be an opera singer. Her younger brother David played cello, though makes his living as an aerospace engineer. Her great-grandfather, John Pitcairn (January 19, 1841 – July 22, 1916), founded the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. Her grandfather was the Rev Theodore Pitcairn of Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. She is the great-niece of Harold and Raymond Pitcairn.

Pitcairn performs in partnership with the "Red Mendelssohn" Violin (Stradivarius 1720). It was purchased as a gift to her by her grandfather in 1990 (for a reported $1.7 million) at auction at Christie's London. It is this auction which is said to have inspired the movie The Red Violin, which won the Academy Award for best musical score in 1999. She is one of few soloists who perform the Red Violin Chaconne, for which composer John Corigliano won his Oscar. Pitcairn appears on the 10th anniversary edition of The Red Violin - Meridian Collection DVD in a special feature documentary interview.