EDITH MARKMAN was born in Detroit, Michigan, and began her formal musical training at the age of eight with her father, Luben Haladjoff. She studied with Josef Gingold and Ivan Galamian at the Meadowmount School, and in 1968 she enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music to study with Joseph Silverstein. Markman also spent four successive summers at Tanglewood at the Berkshire Music Center.

In 1971, she became the first undergraduate to be dually enrolled in Yale College and the Yale Graduate Music School. At that time she became concertmaster of the Yale Collegium and Philharmonia Orchestras and a principal player with the New Haven Symphony. She remained at Yale and received the Master of Music degree (1974) and beyond that completed her academic studies toward the Doctorate of Music.