Born in 1901 Vilnius, Lithuania (then a part of Russia), Jascha Heifetz was soon recognized as a child prodigy, making his public musical debut at the age of seven. Heifetz and his family fled the Russian Revolution in 1917 and came to the United States, where a 16-year-old Heifetz first performed in Carnegie Hall on October 27 of that year. He became a U.S. citizen in 1925 and is widely considered the greatest violinist of the 20th century.