[Buldak]

I'm a little surprised at people here who claim to be classical music aficionados and yet haven't heard of him. I would have guessed it's hard to know enough to be able to name more than two or three classical violinists and not know who Bell is.

But I think that's beside the point, because I don't think the premise is that people "should" have recognized Bell as a celebrity. The naive hope is rather that people can recognize great art when they encounter it.

[algorias]

The whole framing is weird to me. I enjoy classical music among other things, but I'm in no way an "aficionado" (whatever that means), and I can recognize around 0 classical musicians by appearance.

[iLoveOncall]

> I'm a little surprised at people here who claim to be classical music aficionados and yet haven't heard of him.

How about they heard of the composers that he played the music of (Bach, Massenet, Schubert and Ponce), but not of the guy that played?

When I go and buy a Big Mac, I care that it's a Big Mac, not whether the cook that re-heated it today was Bob or Joe.

[attractivechaos]

Concert soloists have their own characteristics. They often play the same piece with subtle differences and confer different feelings. Some may sound more convincing/touching than others. When I hear a version I like, I may check who is the soloist and may buy his/her album. Then I will naturally remember the name.

[LanceH]

Solo violin is relatively niche in the vast world of classical music.

[drewcoo]

The reaction here shows that HN doesn't follow classical.

The reaction after (presumably) hearing some of the video . . . shows that they're not going to.

Regardless of celebrity, a classically-trained violinist and a busker are two very different things. (Buskers have more charisma!)