Guest Artist Bio
Joshua Bell
Violinist Joshua Bell first came to national attention at the age of 14 in a highly acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A Carnegie Hall debut, the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and a recording contract further confirmed his presence in the music world. Today he is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra leader, and his varied career has earned him a reputation as a classical music superstar.
Bell, Musical America’s 2010 Instrumentalist of the Year, has collaborated with the Oregon Symphony many times in his career, most recently in May 2009, when he performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto before sell-out crowds.
Highlights of his 2010/11 season include fall performances with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston and St. Louis symphonies, as well as 2011 concerts with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands and Spain and a recital tour of Canada, the United States and Europe.
Bell is an exclusive Sony Classical artist. His first sonata recording of French repertoire, which is also his first duo recording effort with Jeremy Denk, will be released in 2011.Recent releases include At Home With Friends, featuring Chris Botti, Sting, Josh Groban, Regina Spektor, Tiempo Libre and others, the Defiance soundtrack, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, The Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic, The Red Violin Concerto, The Essential Joshua Bell, Voice of the Violin and Romance of the Violin which Billboard named the 2004 Classical CD of the Year, and Bell the Classical Artist of the Year.
Bell and his two sisters grew up on a farm in Bloomington, IN. As a child, he indulged in many passions outside of music, becoming an avid computer game player and a competitive athlete. He placed fourth in a national tennis tournament at age 10 without having taken a single lesson and still keeps his racquet close by. Bell received his first violin at age 4 after his parents, both psychologists by profession, noticed him plucking tunes with rubber bands he had stretched around the handles of his dresser drawers. By 12 he was serious about the instrument, thanks in large part to the inspiration of renowned violinist and teacher Josef Gingold, who had become his mentor.
In 1989, Bell received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance from Indiana University. His alma mater also honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Service Award only two years after his graduation. The recipient of the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, he has been named an Indiana Living Legend and received the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award. In 2005 he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame and in 2009 performed at Ford’s Theatre before President Barack Obama, which was followed by an invitation from the President and Mrs. Obama to perform at the White House.
Bell performs on the 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th century French bow by Francois Tourte. More information online: joshuabell.com.