Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough

Prominent cellist Steven Isserlis has a distinctive sound, created partly by the use of gut strings, and often performs Baroque and Classical-period music. He has written several books about classical music for children. Born in London on December 19, 1958, Isserlis was the grandson of Russian composer and pianist Julius Isserlis; the elder Isserlis, on arriving in Vienna in 1922, was rejected for an apartment rental because a previous tenant -- Beethoven -- had the habit of spitting on the floor, and the 102-year-old landlady therefore did not want to rent to a musician. Iss...