Hilary Hahn (born November 27, 1979) is an American violinist. She has performed throughout the world both as a soloist with leading orchestras and conductors and as a recitalist. She has also built a reputation as a champion of contemporary music. Several composers have written works for her, including concerti by Edgar Meyer and Jennifer Higdon, partitas by Antón García Abril, and a violin and piano sonata by Lera Auerbach.
Hahn was born in Lexington, Virginia on November 27, 1979. She grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Steve Hahn, was a journalist and librarian; her paternal great-grandmother was from Bad Dürkheim in Germany. Her mother Anne was an accountant.
She began playing the violin one month before her fourth birthday in the Suzuki Program of Baltimore's Peabody Institute. She participated in a Suzuki class for a year. From 1985 to 1990 she studied in Baltimore under Klara Berkovich.