Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell is an American violinist known for his flawless technique, rich tone, and refined phrasing. He is also a prolific recording artist who appears on over 40 albums, and he serves as the music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He was born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1967, and he started learning to play the violin when he was just four years old. In the following year, he began violin lessons with Donna Bricht before studying with Mimi Zweig during his elementary school years. He was also interested in sports, and he competed in a national tennis tournament when he was ten years old. At the age of 12, he became a student of violinist Josef Gingold, who taught at Indiana University. While he was still attending Bloomington High School North, Bell also enrolled at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he continued his studies with Gingold. He made his debut at 14 years old with the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Riccardo Muti. Bell graduated from high school in 1984, debuted at Carnegie Hall with the St. Louis Symphony in 1985, and in 1989, he completed his Artist Diploma at Indiana University. In the 1990s, he was in high demand as a soloist and recitalist, and he performed with many of the major orchestras and conductors around the world. He won a Grammy award in 1993 for his recording of Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concerto, and in 1998, he collaborated on John Corigliano’s soundtrack for The Red Violin, which received an Academy Award, a Grammy nomination, and several other nominations. He also collaborated on the album Short Trip Home, which featured the bluegrass-infused music of Edgar Meyer. He worked with non-classical artists such as Chick Corea and James Taylor, and he performed a popular series of recitals in London and France with Steven Isserlis, Pamela Frank, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Bell acquired the “Gibson ex Huberman” Stradivarius violin in 2001, and its turbulent history became the subject of the 2013 documentary The Return of the Violin. He conducted a social experiment in 2007, busking in subway stations of Washington D.C., which fueled discussions about human behavior for years thereafter. In a departure from his career as a violinist, he has served as music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields since 2011. Bell received an Academy Award nomination in 2013 for his collaboration with Scarlett Johansson on the song “Before My Time,” which was used in the film Chasing Ice. His countless appearances on TV include The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle, and several Live from Lincoln Center and PBS specials. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he released the album At Home with Music, which featured well-known show pieces and a West Side Story Medley with his wife, soprano Larisa Martinez. Bell’s 2023 release Butterfly Lovers features the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, and works by Sarasate, Massenet, and Saint-Saëns. ~ RJ Lambert