Who's Joshua Bell?
       His career began when he was barely in his teens but he is already one of the most promising violinists of his generation.
       Today, at age 31, Bell has earned a reputation not only as a dynamic performer but as a dedicated and thoughtful musician who has successfully bridged the gap from child prodigy to inspired and mature artist.

How did he Start?
       Joshua Bell was born in Bloomington Indiana and received his first violin at age five. He became seriously committed to this instrument by the time he was twelve, when he had the privilege to meet renowned violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold, who became his beloved teacher and mentor.
       He came to national attention at fourteen years of age when he was announced winner of the Seventeen Magazine/General Motors competition in 1981. That year, he made his highly acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
       Soon after he debuted at Carnegie Hall, won an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and made his first recordings, creating a sensation that rapidly spread throughout the music world.
       Since that time, Bell has performed with the world's leading symphony orchestras, and with such conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph von Dohnányi, Antal Dorati, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, John Eliot Gardiner, James Levine , Riccardo Muti, Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Some More About Him
        With concerto appearances, solo recitals and chamber music performances, Joshua Bell gives over one hundred concerts each season world-wide. He is interested in exploring the work of living composers and, in addition to the Corigliano Fantasy, has performed the world premieres of two works written for him: a violin concerto by the renowned British composer Nicholas Maw and Air for violin and piano by the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis.Joshua Bell's 1998-99 season features extensive concert touring, participation in numerous Gershwin centenary concerts and involvement as Artistic Consultant for The Red Violin. Following the release of Gershwin Fantasy, his first disc for Sony Classical (SK 60659), Bell plays Gershwin with John Williams at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at Ravinia with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is also featured with John Williams on PBS' "Evening at Pops." In the autumn he travels to Europe for a televised Gershwin celebration from London's Palladium and for a Gershwin tribute in Paris with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Seiji Ozawa . In addition, Bell served as artistic advisor, body double and the performing artist responsible for all on-screen violin sound for The Red Violin. The film, to be released during the 1998-99 season (along with the soundtrack -- SK 63010), traces the fictional history of a rare violin through three centuries; it is being screened at the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in September and the Montreal Film Festival in October. Last season, Bell gave world premiere performances of Corigliano's The Red Violin Chaconne, a concert suite based on themes from the film's soundtrack, with the San Francisco Symphony and Boston Symphony Orchestras.

This season, he will play the work with the Cleveland, Toronto and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras.
Also in the 1998-99 season Joshua Bell toured North America with the St. Louis Symphony and Hans Vonk (I could've gone to see this perfomance, and I hate myself for not've doing so!) and Europe with David Zinman and the London Philharmonia and Roger Norrington and the SDR. In May he performs the Sibelius and Goldmark violin concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a project to be recorded by Sony Classical. Other orchestral engagements include performances with the Royal Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, London Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and Phoenix Symphony. He travels to the Far East for concerto engagements in Hong Kong and Korea and for recitals in Japan and Taiwan. He also gives recitals in Hungary, Italy, Spain and England with pianist Zoltan Kocsis, and in North America with Simon Mulligan.
I hope you've learned a bit about the great musician, Joshua Bell. He is an excellent violinist, and I hope to meet him someday.