After years of guesting with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles that made it our way, Joshua Bell in 2011 played his first ever Tucson solo concert. Eight years and yet another TSO appearance - back in 2013 - later, Bell is bringing his latest solo recital to Centennial Hall with UA Presents on Friday, Feb. 15. Bell doesn't do a whole lot of recitals. In fact, we are the finale of a 10-city solo trek with his longtime accompanist, English pianist Sam Haywood, before he heads to Europe and then back to the U.S. for orchestra dates through the spring.  "It's a different experience than playing a concerto with an orchestra, where I fly in, rehearse my one big piece with the orchestra" and perform, Bell, 51, said during a teleconference with West Coast journalists in mid-December. "Playing a big concerto is thrilling, too. You've got a lot of people on stage. It's louder. ... But with a solo recital ... it's two hours of more intensity from beginning to end. But what I like is I get to offer sort of a tasting menu from classical music. Something from different periods. I get to show different aspects of classical music, different ways the violin can express itself. It's more intimate. I can talk to the audience between pieces." Bell will be in concert with pianist Sam Haywood on Friday, Feb. 15 at Centennial Hall on the University of Arizona campus. READ THE FULL Tucson.com ARTICLE

Courtesy of Roy Thomson Hall, Ludwig Van is giving away two sets of tickets to see Joshua Bell on Tuesday, February 12, 2019. Click here for details. With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, conductor, and arts education champion, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. A Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards and he is a recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize. Named the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 2011, he is the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. The contest will run one week until Thursday, Feb. 7, 5 p.m. Two winners will be chosen at random and contacted via email with details.

The new Sony Classical - Scottish Fantasy release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. In addition to Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy is the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which Bell first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  KMFA: Austin - Midday Oasis host Dianne Donovan spoke with JB in an interview this week ahead of his recital at the Long Center this Saturday evening oct. 6.    LISTEN p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell will pay tribute to IMG Artists co founder - Charles Hamlen, the late classical music manager who helped propel his career, in an intimate concert October 1. The performance will take place in the Tribeca loft of Simon Yates and Kevin Roon, with proceeds going to Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS. Hamlen, who died from leukemia August 1 at the age of 75, founded the organization in 1993-five years after losing his partner, Carlos Flor, to AIDS. It subsequently became a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in 1997.    photos: Henry McGee, Steve J. Sherman p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Playbill ARTICLE

A new Sony Classical release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. The album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well as a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.    KDFC: San Francisco Jeff Freymann spoke with JB about the new recording. Listen to the attached interview p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

A new Sony Classical release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. The album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well as a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy. 

Spokane Public Radio's Jim Tevenan spoke with JB about the new recording. Listen to the attached interview

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell debuts his newest Sony Classical release featuring the first violin concerto by Max Bruch, and his Scottish Fantasy. The Scottish Fantasy is paired with a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy. Bell's affection for the Fantasy runs deep, with good reason: "My father's family were from Scotland, and I grew up hearing stories about how my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather fought in the Black Watch in Scotland.  My dad was proud of his Scottish heritage, and this connection makes the melodies in Bruch's Scottish Fantasy even more meaningful to me." The Fantasy bristles with the snap and lilt of Scottish folk songs, and Bell goes on to say, "It is one of the most beautiful and touching pieces I know, and so brilliantly orchestrated. It is a unique ‘concerto,' not following the traditional three-movement form. Each of its four movements tells a story." As mentioned, Bell doesn't just play the violin, he conducts the orchestra too! Find out what it's like to do both at the same time, the recording process, and what makes this recording different.     LISTEN TO WETA: Wash DC

Today's BreakfastPromelette features a playlist of highlights by the French composer What are the best pieces by Saint-Saëns? Saint-Saëns In tonight's Prom, Joshua Bell is taking to the stage in Saint-Saëns's Violin Concerto No. 3. We've taken the opportunity to look back on some of our favourite works by the French composer. What's on at the Proms tonight? Prom 40: Sunday 12 August 2018, 4pm Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night's Dream - Overture Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 2 Bridge Lament (Catherine, aged 9, 'Lusitania' 1915) Beethoven Symphony No. 4   Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Joshua Bell (violin/director)   The Prom will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3   Ahead of Joshua Bell's performance of Saint-Saëns's Violin Concerto No.3 at the Proms this Sunday, we take a look at some of the composer's highlights! p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} SEE BBC Music Magazine PAGE

Back in 2011, American violinist Joshua Bell became the first music director of London's Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, since its founding by Neville Marriner.  Bell and the orchestra already had a longstanding relationship:  Around the time of the violinist's 19th birthday, he recorded Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Academy.  Now it feels that things have come full circle, as Bell is not only Music Director, has recorded concertos and symphonies with the group, but has revisited Bruch's best-known work in this new CD, "Scottish Fantasy". No longer with a conductor as intermediary, Bell communicates and plays directly with his orchestra.  "Scottish Fantasy" refers to one of many Bruch compositions inspired by other cultures, and is Bell's first recording of the 4-movement work.   Music director (of All Classical Portland) John Pitman chats with Mr. Bell about the music, the composer, and his lifelong love of the Oregon Symphony and Portland (Part of the discussion is about Bell's visit (May, 2018) to Portland Recovery Center, to play for the residents.  LISTEN

It has been announced this week that superstar violinist Joshua Bell is set to perform the world premiere film with live orchestra performance of The Red Violin score – at this year's Festival Napa Valley in Napa Valley, California. In an immersive film with live music experience, Joshua Bell will perform John Corigliano‘s complete Oscar-winning 1998 score live with conductor Michael Stern and the Festival Orchestra NAPA – on July 26th at 6.00pm. "One of the great privileges of my life was my collaboration two decades ago with John Corigliano on his extraordinary score for ‘The Red Violin …" Bell has said.   The Violin Channel will be broadcasting a pre-concert panel VC Facebook Live discussion from Far Niente Winery with Joshua Bell, composer John Corigliano, Producer Niv Fichman and conductor Michael Stern on July 25 at 9.00pm (EST) New York time. SEE The Violin Channel PAGE

Joshua Bell will be back. The Minnesota Beethoven Festival favorite will return to Winona next summer - and bring his violin - to open the 2019 season, which runs from June 30 to July 21. The 2018 season concluded Sunday with a concert from the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra and internationally renowned conductor Osmo Vänskä. "We are thrilled to welcome our friend Joshua Bell and the terrific Manhattan Chamber Players back this year as we continue the tradition of bringing a mix of returning performers and electrifying new artists to Winona," artistic and managing director Ned Kirk said. "With the Beethoven Festival's first solo clarinet and organ concerts, the 13th season promises to be one of our most exciting yet." Other guests performing during the 13th season in 2019 include clarinetist Julian Bliss, the Venice Baroque Orchestra, the Parker Wuartet and 2017 Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Yekwon Sunwoo. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL La Crosse Tribune ARTICLE

Chamber music galas are usually a chance to dress fancy, eat fancy food, and visit fancy places. The music is usually an afterthought. But you don't engage Joshua Bell as an afterthought. The esteemed violinist, with his equally estimable piano accompanist Alessio Bax, performed Sunday evening at Ochre Court for the annual gala of the Newport Music Festival. There was plenty of fancy throughout the evening, but thanks to Bell and Bax, plenty of music as well. The program was "only" two major sonatas - Mozart and Grieg - along with a tender song from Mexican composer Manuel Ponce, and Sarasate's unimaginably virtuosic "Zigeunerweisen." All of it served as a vehicle for the brilliance and supreme musicianship that Bell brings perpetually to any concert stage. READ THE FULL Providence Journal REVIEW

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch on his new Sony Classical release. The album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well as a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  In recent years, the Scottish Fantasy has become a favorite performance piece of Bell's. His affection for the Fantasy runs deep, with good reason: "My father's family were from Scotland, and I grew up hearing stories about how my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather fought in the Black Watch in Scotland.  My dad was proud of his Scottish heritage, and this connection makes the melodies in Bruch's Scottish Fantasy even more meaningful to me." The Fantasy bristles with the snap and lilt of Scottish folk songs, and Bell goes on to say, "It is one of the most beautiful and touching pieces I know, and so brilliantly orchestrated. It is a unique ‘concerto,' not following the traditional three-movement form. Each of its four movements tells a story." Bell joins 91.3WGTE Public Media's - Toledo OH, Classical Music host, Brad Cresswell for a one on one about the recording. LISTEN

A new Sony Classical release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. The album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well as a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  JB sat down with 95.5KHFM: Albuquerque Classical Host - Brent Stevens to discuss the new recording. Listen to the attached interview.

"There is no ‘one size fits all', argues the American violinist. It is important to discuss why students chose their fingerings and why there may be better alternatives." - Joshua Bell Bowings and particularly fingerings – which strings you use, where you place your glissandos and so on – are very individual, because they are tied into the philosophy of your interpretation and expression of a piece. They are so personal: what one player does may seem illogical to someone else; some choices will fit one person's hand when for others they might not work at all.  When teachers are very strict about the fingerings and bowings their students use, it locks those students into a way of thinking. This stifles them creatively and I'm very much against that idea. So often I hear teachers blanketly saying, ‘This is the fingering. Why didn't you do what I told you to?' instead of explaining why they use that fingering and how it ties into the interpretation of the piece. When I was a youngster the bulk of my studies were with Josef Gingold. He would sometimes give me very unorthodox fingerings passed down to him by his teacher, Eugène Ysaÿe. These were not always intuitive, but they were very expressive and made sense for musical reasons. He would also offer his own ideas, but when he did, he just meant for his students to give them a try. Sometimes I would use my own fingerings and he would say, ‘Oh my God, you've just sold me on that!' p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ JB's FULL Strad INTERVIEW

Max Bruch's two violin masterpieces have inspired the new album from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell. Bell performs and directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in his first-ever recording of the Scottish Fantasy and offers a fresh take on Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26 – the first concerto Bell recorded thirty years ago with the Academy conducted then by Sir Neville Marriner. The Scottish Fantasy has become a great favorite of Bell's in the last decade. He calls Bruch's Concerto No. 1 "the most seductive of violin concertos," saying "It's a piece that audiences go crazy over because it's so rich and lush, and it's easy to grasp. It's got excitement, power and passion." Joshua Bell, ASMF - Bruch: Scottish Fantasy is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' for July 7, 2018 p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060}

Joshua Bell is a classical superstar. With more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and conductor, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums winning Grammy, Mercury, and Gramophone awards! Josh is currently the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, only the 2nd person to hold this post since 1958, and he is a Senior Lecturer for violin and chamber music at Indiana University. Radio Purdue - WBAA Music Director John Clare spoke to Bell about his most recent release on Sony Classical, Scottish Fantasy - his first recording of the fantasy and a fresh recording of Bruch's First Violin Concerto. LISTEN p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

A new Sony Classical release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. The album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well as a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  Bell talks about Bruch and his unhappy business sense and the delights of these two favorites. Joshua remembers his early visits to Pittsburgh and long association with the Pittsburgh Symphony in this conversation with WQED: Pittsburgh, Jim Cunningham. LISTEN

"Some people like to say about Bruch, in general, because it's popular they think, 'Oh, well, it's probably not as deep a piece as the Brahms or the Beethoven,' and that's hogwash. It's incredibly deep and meaningful music." That's why violinist Joshua Bell decided to record Max Bruch's Violin Concerto a second time with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He's paired it with a piece he's never recorded before, Bruch's Scottish Fantasy. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} New Classical Tracks is a Syndicated Feature, airing nationally on Classical24 and Statewide on Minnesota Public Radio. This week New Classical Tracks features - Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in thier new Sony Classical recording of the Bruch - Scottish Fantasy. LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT & READ THE TRANSCRIPT

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. Available this Friday, June 22, the Sony Classical album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well asa new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor,which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  90.9WRCJ: Detroit, Classical Host - Chris Felcyn recently sat down with JB to create a 2 segment piece which will air at 3pm ET this Wednesday and Thursday June 20, 21 respectively . Listen to the full segment on our attached clip.  PHOTO: Amy T. Zelinski

A new Sony Classical release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. Available June 22, the album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well asa new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor,which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  In conjunction with the new release, JB has made time to speak on 2 separate days, with Radio outlets throughout the US. The first session took place on June 4, and todayJB will be speaking with WETA: Wash DC, KING: Seattle, WRCJ: Detroit, All Classical Portland, WQED: Pittsburgh, Spokane Public Radio, Net Nebraska and Radio Purdue.  Watch for our tweets throughout the day.

The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) caps its 2017/18 season of concerts with the return of renowned violinist Joshua Bell, who has performed with the MPO at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP) in two sold-out concerts in 2004 and 2007. Bell's career spans more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artiste and conductor. He has recorded more than 40 albums which have won Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards. A recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, Bell was named as the music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 2011, the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. This year, Bell tours with the Academy to the UK, Germany, the US and Asia. Together with the MPO, Bell will perform the works of Max Bruch and Anton Bruckner, most notably Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony in E major, June 9 at 8.30pm and June 10 at 3pm at DFP. Leading the orchestra is British conductor Mark Wigglesworth, who is also returning to the podium after collaborating with the MPO in 2017. READ THE FULL Sun Daily ARTICLE

A new Sony Classical release from Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. Available June 22, the album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well asa new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor,which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy.  In conjunction with the new release, JB has made time to speak on 2 separate days, with Radio outlets throughout the US. Today is the first of those sessions and participants include SiriusXM, Classical 24, KDFC: San Francisco, WABE: Atlanta, KMFA: Austin, WUOL: Louisville, KHFM: Albuquerque, and WGTE: Toledo. Watch for our tweets throughout the day.

Joshua Bell describes finding his instrument, a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin, as a "kind of love story that only happens once or twice in one's life." It's a love story that involves more than a little bit of luck, too. Bell was in London to play the 2001 BBC Proms when he stopped by a violin shop for some strings before his performance that night. The shop owners encouraged him to play the famous violin, which happened to be in the shop for that night only before being sent to Germany to be sold. "I literally just fell in love with it so quickly," Bell told us as he recounted the story. "I thought ‘this is it, this violin is not leaving my hands, it's not going to Germany, it's going to be my instrument for the rest of my life.'" He played it that night at the Royal Albert Hall in front of 7,000 people. As incredible as Bell's acquisition of the violin is, the instrument's history is even more so. Before finding its way to Bell, the violin was missing for 50 years, having been stolen from the Carnegie Hall dressing room of owner Bronisław Huberman and only recovered after the thief's prison death-bed confession. Huberman, a Jewish Polish virtuoso, had played the violin while forming the Palestine Philharmonic (now known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra) with Jewish musicians persecuted by Nazis. It's estimated that Huberman saved nearly 1,000 people-instrumentalists and their families-from the Third Reich. This Wednesday May 9, 2018 only, Bell with bring his violin to perform with the Nashville Symphony, continuing the Violins of Hope initiative that has encouraged a citywide dialogue about social justice, centered around restored instruments played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. The Jewish Film Festival will also host a free screening of the documentary The Return of the Violin, which details the incredible story of Bell's instrument.     PHOTOS CHRIS LEE / WIKIPEDIA p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Nashville Public Radio ARTICLE

There will be a lot of history on the minds of those on the stage and likely many in the hall when the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra closes out its 2017-18 season with its Grand Finale Wednesday night. A major spotlight for the 7:30 p.m. concert at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center will be one of the most accomplished violinists of his time, who oddly enough has history with the Fox Valley Symphony that stretches back more than a decade before Groner first stepped in front of the orchestra in Appleton. Joshua Bell, who over his 30-plus-year career has collected Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone and Echo Klassik awards and the Avery Fisher Prize, among dozens of other honors, will be the guest artist for three of the night's selections. (Want more history? It's also well-known that Bell plays a 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin with a late-18th century French bow.) "I do remember it," Bell said of a 1983 visit to Appleton for his first-ever concert with the Fox Valley Symphony. "I do remember the host family I stayed with had a dog that bit me on the nose on the day of the concert, so I remember that." READ THE FULL Appleton Post Crescent ARTICLE

A packed, expectant house greeted starry US violinist Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for their Sunday afternoon stop-off at the Usher Hall, and in response, they put on a beautifully crafted, energetic show. Bell has achieved something quite special since becoming the ensemble's music director in 2011. Still there were its renowned polish and finesse, its assured, aristocratic smoothness. But under Bell they have a remarkable focus, too, and there's an etched clarity to their playing: every gesture has direction and meaning. And it's a joy to watch an ensemble in which every musician seems so engaged. Music review:  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} READ THE FULL Scotsman ARTICLE

The chamber orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields (named after the church in London's Trafalgar Square) was founded in 1959 by Neville Marriner who remained its music director for decades until Joshua Bell took over the post in 2011. Bell also continued the tradition set by Marriner of conducting from the leader's seat. The Usher Hall concert began with ‘The Four Seasons' – Vivaldi's popular composition. Bell was the soloist and conductor, and playing on a three hundred year old Stradivarius, His interpretation of this familiar work was superb, illustrating not only his technical brilliance, but also that of the musicians in the orchestra. It was one of the finest renditions I have ever heard of this well-known work. Bell and Edgar Meyer have been friends for years and the second piece on the programme – ‘Overture for Violin and Orchestra' – Meyer specifically wrote for Bell and the Academy. Then the programme reverted back to the eighteenth century concling with a rousing rendition of Beethoven's Symphony No 2. READ THE FULL EdinburghGuide.com ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

"I actually come from Scottish descent, on my father's side of the family," says Joshua Bell. "Bell is a Scottish name, after all." Caledonian connections might come as a bit of a surprise from the US violinist, one of classical music's starriest figures, who returns to the land of his forefathers for a concert at Edinburgh's Usher Hall on 21 January. But to him, those roots clearly matter. "My father used to talk to me about his grandfather and great-grandfather, who fought in the Black Watch," he continues. "So there's something sentimental about playing in Scotland – and of course it's a special place anyway." Bell directs the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for the performance. READ THE FULL SCOTSMAN ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px}

Joshua Bell's debut recording in 1986 may have been prophetic. On it, the 18-year-old American violinist performed with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner. Today Bell has been music director of the self-same orchestra for six years - and has just signed up for three more. "I love this orchestra so much," Bell says. "I feel there's a special chemistry between us. Their attitude is amazing and they give so much in the concerts. As we travel together a lot, I spend time with them in a way that I don't if I'm a guest soloist. We were recently in Iceland and I was out with them in the middle of the night, trying to find the Northern Lights." In January he and the ASMF undertake a seven-date UK tour, performing Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Beethoven's Symphony No.2 and the world premiere of Edgar Meyer's Overture for Violin and Orchestra, written especially for Bell. It's a typical mingling of his roles as violin soloist, conductor and champion of new music and, he adds, "instead of leaving after a half-hour concerto for a post-concert cold beer, I'm involved in the whole two hours of the concert, which is so much more rewarding." Bell, who grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, credits his Jewish mother ("in every sense!") with forming his crucial pattern of hard work and determination. "She's very strong willed," he smiles. "I think one reason a lot of successful musicians have been Jewish is that tradition of work ethic and involvement from the parents." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px} Bell and the Academy start their tour on January 12 at Cadogan Hall in London. READ THE FULL Jewish Chronicle ARTICLE

When famed U.S. violinist Joshua Bell busked anonymously at a Washington D.C. Metro stop a decade ago as a kind of musical experiment, more than 1,000 people rushed past him, most without a second look. But the multimedia concert based on Bell's experience that day as seen through the eyes of a child – kids were among the few who turned to look – sold out Washington's Kennedy Centre and had a crowd of 2,200 cheering. That show - called The Man With the Violin - will make its Canadian premiere this week at the National Arts Centre. The concert, a co-commission by the two capital-city orchestras, features music by Grammy-winning composer Anne Dudley. Based on a children's book by Canadian Kathy Stinson, and with Dušan Petričić's illustrations turned into vivid video animation, the concert is the headliner of a night of Christmas magic for all ages that also includes unexpected pre-show buskers around the newly renovated NAC and choral classics sung by the Choirs of Christ Church Cathedral. In the edited interview below, Bell discussed what he learned from busking in the subway, how he chooses repertoire and why the father-of-three wants to play for kids and families.      READ THE FULL Ottawa Citizen Q&A p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px}

Some days, you just need escapism. On Sunday afternoon, as news broke of yet another horrific mass shooting in America, I found myself at the Music Center at Strathmore, awaiting the start of a recital from Joshua Bell and wondering how the American violinist's affable, crowd-pleasing musicianship would speak to my feelings of helplessness and despair. By the end of Bell's program, centered on three big Romantic-era sonatas, I felt little consolation or profound meaning. But in the moment, courtesy of Bell's effusive lyricism, I experienced something perhaps even more valuable: transport through hedonic pleasure. READ THE FULL Washington Post REVIEW

Sony Classical's release of Joshua Bell – The Classical Collection, is a 14-CD set of albums of classical repertoire that the internationally acclaimed, Grammy® Award winning violinist has recorded for the label over the past twenty years.  The collection displays the unique breadth, versatility, breathtaking virtuosity, beguiling sensitivity, and sheer tonal beauty that has made Bell an icon for audiences of all ages and musical tastes throughout the world. This new collection showcases Joshua Bell in cornerstones of the violin concerto repertoire, chamber music and concert pieces. Chosen by KUSC: Los Angeles Staff, for the week of September 25th, Joshua Bell - The Classical Collection is Album Of the Week.

Sony Classical's release of Joshua Bell – The Classical Collection, is a 14-CD set of albums of classical repertoire that the internationally acclaimed, Grammy® Award winning violinist has recorded for the label over the past twenty years.  The collection displays the unique breadth, versatility, breathtaking virtuosity, beguiling sensitivity, and sheer tonal beauty that has made Bell an icon for audiences of all ages and musical tastes throughout the world. This new collection showcases Joshua Bell in cornerstones of the violin concerto repertoire, chamber music and concert pieces. Chosen by KDFC: San Francisco Staff, for the week of September 25th, Joshua Bell - The Classical Collection is Album Of the Week. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica}

The photo is the President's Committee delegation arriving in Cuba with Joshua Bell playing with Cuban students. The trip was one month after President Obama's historic trip to Havana. It resulted in the first government to government collaborations between Cuba and the US. Those who remained until last Friday had devoted energy to protect and preserve the committee's signature programs from elimination under the new administration. That meant establishing partnerships with private entities to take over stewardship of Turnaround Arts and The National Student Poets Program. Mass resignation in a letter that contained the hidden message, "RESIST," was determined to be the best use of the group's remaining political capital. READ THE FULL KCET - soCal ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

From Joshua Bell - My debut aged 14, performing the Mozart G major Concerto K216 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, was the first time I had played with an orchestra of that stature. Although it was in 1982 I can still remember the chills I felt when they began the tutti. I had only played with smaller orchestras before, so I was blown away by the ‘Philadelphia' sound. Back then my shoulder rest was a sponge held in place with an elastic band. Towards the end of the first movement I felt it begin to slip, but I knew there were a few bars' rest coming up in which I would just about have a chance to reattach it before the start of the cadenza. As I was frantically trying to stretch the band around the instrument I let go accidentally and it flew off, hitting the principal violist in the head. I was horrified but the musicians (including the violist) smiled and, after I had finished the cadenza, passed it along one by one until the concertmaster, Norman Carol, handed it back to me. In a way the whole thing made me feel more relaxed, because I had been more worried about the orchestra's opinion than about what the audience thought! After that, I felt like the orchestra was on my side. Carol had heard that, like him, I collected coins so, after the concert, he gave me a special coin from his collection which I kept in my case for years afterwards. p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} The preceding text is published as part of a larger ‘Life Lessons' interview with Joshua Bell in The Strad's August 2017 issue, out now. You can download it through The Strad App. CLICK HERE         SEE theStrad PAGE

For more than two weeks this month, Winona and Carnegie Hall will have something in common. They'll both host some of the world's greatest classical artists. The Minnesota Beethoven Festival - in its 11th season - will feature top names in the classical scene, including violinist Joshua Bell, choral director Dale Warland, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Anderson and Roe piano duo among many other renowned artists. "We're bringing some of the world's most famous classical artists to Winona," Minnesota Beethoven Festival director Ned Kirk said. READ THE FULL La Crosse Tribune ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Sony Classical announces the release of Joshua Bell – The Classical Collection, a 14-CD set of albums of classical repertoire that the internationally acclaimed, Grammy® Award winning violinist has recorded for the label over the past twenty years.  The collection is available worldwide on August 18th, 2017. Displaying the unique breadth, versatility and breathtaking virtuosity, beguiling sensitivity and sheer tonal beauty that has made Bell an icon for audiences of all ages and musical tastes throughout the world, this new collection showcases Joshua Bell in cornerstones of the violin concerto repertoire, chamber music and concert pieces. The repertoire in this career-spanning edition includes Bell's 2008 recording of the Vivaldi Four Seasons with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (for which Bell has served since 2011 as Music Director), the 2014 Bach release, also with the ASMF, and two of Joshua's most popular albums Romance of the Violin and Voice of the Violin, where the violinist regales us with arrangements  from Monteverdi, Mozart, Schubert, Chopin and Bellini to Dvorák, Debussy and Orff. Other highlights from the collection include British composer  Nicholas Maw's Grammy® Award winning Violin Concerto , a work written for Bell in 1993, featuring the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Sir Roger Norrington, conductor; The Red Violin Concerto based on themes from John Corigliano's score to the film The Red Violin, with the Philharmonia Orchestra London  and Esa-Pekka Salonen and Leonard Bernstein's cherished West Side Story Suite, also performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra London and David Zinman. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} Rounding out this boxed set are Bell's recordings of treasured masterpieces by Beethoven, Mendelssohn,Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Gershwin, Ravel, and Sibelius – accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic and Michael Tilson Thomas, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Salzburg Camerata  with Sir Roger Norrington and Bell's close friends and regular chamber music partners, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk. Bell is also featured as Music Director in riveting performances of Beethoven's Fourth and Seventh Symphonies with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. SEE THE Crossroads Today PAGE

With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and conductor, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone and Echo Klassik awards and is recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize. Named the Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in 2011, he is the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. In September 2016, Sony Classical releases Bell's newest album, For the Love of Brahms, with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk. Symphonies and concertos are composed to be performed in their entirety, but sometimes individual movements take on lives of their own. WRTI: Philadelphia - Susan Lewis considers the slow movement of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto with violinist Joshua Bell. Then Bell talks with Lewis about Brahms, friendship, and Bell's CD "For the Love of Brahms."  LISTEN p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

Joshua Bell's "Gershwin Fantasy" and his "Swan Lake" have gotten me through many a rough commute on New Jersey Transit. The violinist's early story is told in "The Dance of the Violin" written by Kathy Stinson and illustrated by Dusan Petricic on Annick Press. The book revolves around the Stulberg International String Competition, an annual contest of terrific young musicians. This year's will be Saturday, May 13. And it is here that Bell, who has played with every major orchestra and been hailed around the world, first came to prominence. In the book, we see the young Bell making music on whatever household objects he can find: combs, empty cardboard tubes, pots and pans and strumming rubber bands, which he stretched over bureau knobs. READ THE FULL NJ.com ARTICLE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

As part of Classical MPR's 50th anniversary we'll celebrate one of public radio's most popular programs - Saint Paul Sunday. Over the next few months, we'll share highlights from the popular program, hosted by Bill McLaughlin, every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on Classical MPR. This week, SPS is sharing an episode from 1986 featuring an 18-year old Joshua Bell. He is joined by his teacher, the legendary violinist Josef Gingold, and pianist Angela Cheng, to share music by Wieniawski, de Sarasate, Kreisler and more. LISTEN TO MPR FEATURE

Superstar violinist Joshua Bell is once again the subject of a children's book: The Dance of the Violin, written by Kathy Stinson and illustrated by Dušan Petricic. Released today, this is Bell's second appearance in a children's book, the first being The Man With the Violin, released a year ago by the same author and illustrator, retelling the story of Bell's famous busking experement in a Washington D.C. Metro station 10 years ago. The book is based on a real-life episode in Bell's life, when at age 12, he performed at the Stulberg International String Competition. That year, despite the flub, Bell placed third, playing Edouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole. The following year he returned and won the competition. READ THE FULL Violinist.com ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Violinist Joshua Bell and tech giant Sony Interactive have this week unveiled the world's first 360-degree virtual reality classical music concert experience. With the aid of a PlayStation VR headset, viewers can now watch the acclaimed virtuoso perform Brahms' 1st ‘Hungarian Dance' with recital partner Sam Haywood – whilst exploring the surroundings and acoustics of the virtual reality recording studio. "I've always been into new technology and I've been following VR since the word was out years ago about it … and as a Sony Artist, when they asked me if I wanted to be involved in the creation of a demo, of course I jumped at the chance … " Joshua Bell told The Violin Channel. READ THE FULL The Violin Channel ARTICLE & WATCH VIDEO READ The Strad ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Kathy Stinson's award-winning picture book The Man with the Violin, illustrated by Dušan Petričić, was adapted for stage in Washington, D.C., with a performance by celebrated violinist Joshua Bell. "Such a natural - to bring music to the story of The Man with the Violin," Stinson said in a press release. "I'm delighted with the wonderful talent that has been brought to bear in bringing it to a wider audience in this way." The multimedia performance, which premiered to a sold out crowd of 2,200 on February 12 at the Kennedy Center, was set to music composed by Anne Dudley and performed by the National Symphony Orchestra with Bell. American journalist Michele Norris narrated the performance, while Petričić's artwork was adapted into animation by Montreal studio Normal. The Man With the Violin, winner of the 2014 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, is about a boy named Dylan who's enraptured by a violinist performing at a metro stop. He wants to stop and listen, but his busy mother pulls him away. The book was inspired by an experiment conducted by The Washington Post and Bell in 2007. Bell, an internationally renowned musician by this time, busked at a Washington metro station - and was largely ignored. Gene Weingarten chronicled the experiment in the article "Pearls Before Breakfast," which won the Pulitzer Prize. READ THE FULL cbc books ARTICLE & WATCH THE VIDEO p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre}

When it comes to the immersive visuals virtual reality offers, the audio needs to be equally as compelling. That includes having the sound adapt to your movements as you navigate a scene or event. To show off what it sPlayStation VR setup is capable of, Sony enlisted violinist Joshua Bell to record a 360-degree virtual reality studio session. With adaptive audio and positional tracking, the company offers the ability for you to "step inside" the venue a lot more realistic. READ THE FULL VRROOM ARTICLE  READ PlayStation BLOG READ Geeky Gadgets

"Give me 10 seconds," Joshua Bell said when reached at his apartment in New York. He was arranging for the delivery of his violin to a luthier to have the fingerboard planed - standard maintenance even for the so-called Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius of 1713. Which Bell will play Tuesday and Wednesday Feb 14, 15 with the OSM in concerts that also represent his conducting debut with the orchestra. "I use it for everything," Bell said of this instrument, which was stolen in 1936 from the Carnegie Hall dressing room of its namesake Polish virtuoso, Bronislaw Huberman, and recovered more than 50 years later after a deathbed confession by a café violinist who claimed to have bought it from the thief. Sure, Bell has a modern fiddle to practise on while the Strad is in the shop. But the Gibson ex-Huberman is what he carries with him on stage. "The violin becomes an extension of yourself," Bell explained. "It becomes almost unthinkable to go back and forth between instruments. And I can afford only one Stradivarius." His concerto offering in the Maison symphonique is Bruch's popular Violin Concerto No. 1. One presumes there will be appropriate backstage supervision of the Strad while Bell occupies the podium to lead Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Conducting is not an altogether new pursuit for this American, whose first appearance with the OSM as a 20-year-old in 1988 resulted in a Decca recording under Charles Dutoit. Since 2011 Bell has been music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London.  READ THE FULL Montreal Gazette ARTICLE

Music fans know a lot about Joshua Bell. This week, the violinist will showcase a cross-section of his career in a varied Kennedy Center residency that will take him from the expected - a solo recital - to the unusual - an orchestral performance accompanied by cocktails, food and wine curated by "Top Chef" alumnus and Washington restaurateur Mike Isabella. He will show National Symphony Orchestra audiences how he approaches conducting, a more recent interest (the concert will be streamed live on Medici.tv). And there will be a new work for children, based on a children's book called "The Man With the Violin" about, what else, that infamous Metro performance. So what don't music fans know about Josh Bell?  "He's an adrenaline junkie," says the cellist Steven Isserlis, who calls Bell his (honorary) "younger brother" after more than 30 years of friendship. Elizabeth Sobol, who managed Bell's career for many decades as head of IMG, says "he has always been deeply soulful about his music, and deeply intelligent about everything he does" p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} "There's this aw-shucks Indiana boy personality," says the pianist Jeremy Denk, who has toured extensively with Bell, "which I think is a way in which he hides the incredible sharpness of his mind and perceptiveness. When he seems not to notice things, he's always noticing." READ Anne Midgette's FULL ARTICLE READ Washington Life Magazine ARTICLE

The virtuoso classical violinist Joshua Bell performs two public concerts as part of a week-long residency at the Kennedy Center. First up is an off-site performance with the National Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with Gourmet Symphony - a local nonprofit specializing in entertainment experiences that encourage patrons to eat, drink and socialize while enjoying classical music. Two nights later, Bell performs a Washington Performing Arts recital with pianist Sam Haywood. The evening pays homage to John F. Kennedy's 100th birthday with actor John Lithgow reading Robert Frost's poem Dedication - written for JFK's inauguration - and set to Air by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis. The evening also includes violin classics by Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninoff. READ THE FULL Metro Weekly ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre}

Joshua Bell recently released a landmark recording on Sony Classical - 'For the Love of Brahms' featuring cellist Steven Isserlis, pianist Jeremy Denk and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. The album is a unique project that features works of Brahms and Schumann that Bell calls "music about love and friendship." A personal, deeply affectionate impulse frequently sparked the music of Johannes Brahms and his mentor, Robert Schumann – often including their mutual friend, the violinist and composer Joseph Joachim. It clearly drove all three works on For the Love of Brahms. From waking up to Mozart's Requiem to braving blizzards and blackouts to perform, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields music director tells us about his musical life.  READ theguardian Q&A  

On November 1, New York's Lincoln Center hosted Seasons of Cuba, a special night of music led by violinist Joshua Bell and featuring Dave Matthews, the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, Cuban singer-songwriter Carlos Varela and more. The event, which celebrated the newly renewed ties between the United States and Cuba, was broadcast on PBS this past Friday night as part of their Live From Lincoln Center series, and now the video is available for viewing online for a limited time. In the special, which can be viewed below, Matthews' portion begins around the 35:17 mark, when Bell talks about Matthews and Varela's collaboration in Cuba from earlier this year, along with Varela and Matthews discussing their respect for one another. Matthews then takes the stage with Varela for the Cuban songwriter's "Muros y Puertas" with the orchestra before debuting his own tune, "Here On Out." The set then ends with Matthews, Bell and the orchestra collaborating on DMB's "Ants Marching." Watch All of the ‘Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba' PBS Special Featuring Dave Matthews on jambands page p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

You might want to find your local PBS station on the television or streaming service, because you'll probably want to tune in Friday to Live from Lincoln Center: Joshua Bell's Seasons of Cuba. The performance stems from a spring 2016 trip to Cuba in which Bell was part of a delegation of performing artists on a U.S. government-led cultural exchange. Besides Bell, performers will include members of that delegation such as Dave Matthews, as well as artists they met in Cuba, including the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, conducted by Daiana García; and Carlos Varela, known in Cuba as the "Poet of Havana." They will perform a range of selections ranging from Vivaldi to Piazzolla (both composers wrote their own "Seasons.") While you have the TV on, you might also want to check out Mozart in the Jungle, which just launched a new season December 9th in which you'll also find guest appearance by Bell. READ THE FULL Violinist.com ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

On Friday, December 16th Dave Matthews joined celebrated violinist Joshua Bell as a special guest, along with the Chamber Orchestra of Havana and Carlos Varela, the "Poet of Havana," for a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York City to celebrate Cuban music and culture. The concert was in follow up to a President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities delegation of artists, including Dave Matthews and Joshua Bell, who visited Cuba in the spring of 2016 and collaborated with Cuban musicians. Watch Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba on PBS.     SEE THE Dave Matthews PAGE

Live From Lincoln Center presents Grammy Award–winning violinist Joshua Bell in a performance with the Chamber Orchestra of Havana and some of Cuba's most renowned artists, as well as special guest Dave Matthews. This marks the U.S. debut of the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, conducted by Daiana García. Live From Lincoln Center's Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba airs nationally as part of the PBS Arts Fall Festival on Friday, December 16, 2016 (check local listings).  Earlier this year, the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities asked Joshua Bell to be a member of the first official government-to-government bilateral initiative in the wake of President Obama's historic trip to Cuba. The mission was to extend a hand of friendship to the Cuban people through the universal language of the arts. Upon his return to the United States, Bell expressed the desire to bring the Chamber Orchestra of Havana to the states and approached Live From Lincoln Center in order to continue the important artistic dialogue initiated overseas.   The concert that stemmed from these efforts includes the Presto movement from "Summer" from Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and "Summer" from Ástor Piazzolla's The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires performed by Joshua Bell and the Chamber Orchestra of Havana, which is composed of some of Cuba's most accomplished classical musicians.  The concert also highlights traditional and contemporary music written and performed by acclaimed Cuban artists, their collaborations building a bridge between Cubans and American artists in a new landscape of cultural diplomacy Joining Joshua Bell and the orchestra are singer-songwriter Carlos Varela (recently profiled in the HBO documentary The Poet of Havana), pianist/composer Aldo López-Gavilán, and soprano Larisa Martínez, all of whom participated in the historic trip in April. Pianist Jorge Gómez, bassist Julio González Ochoa, pianist Orlando Alonso, percussionist Ruy Adrián López-Nussa, drummer Yissy Garciá Calzadilla, and saxophonist Yosvany Terry are also featured in the concert. Special guest Dave Matthews, who was also a member of the delegation to Cuba, performs several of his own songs in collaboration with Joshua Bell and the Chamber Orchestra of Havana. He performs with Carlos Varela, as well. The live concert event and television broadcast are produced and directed by multiple Emmy Award winner Andrew C. Wilk, Executive Producer of Live From Lincoln Center. It was taped Tuesday, November 1, 2016, in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall.  p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Arial Narrow'; min-height: 14.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Arial Narrow'} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Arial Narrow'; color: #0433ff} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 15.0px Calibri; min-height: 18.0px} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline} span.s2 {font: 11.0px 'Arial Narrow'} span.s3 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #0433ff}

Last night, Dave Matthews could be found among a number of talented performers at Joshua Bell's "Seasons of Cuba" event at Lincoln Center. Bell led an ensemble that included a number of artists, with many paying respect to the Cuban culture in honor of opening the US-Cuban relations after many decades. The Chamber Orchestra Of Havana was also on hand, adding a magnificent touch to each performance. Dave Matthews was one of the final musicians to play, first joining up with Carlos Varela for a rendition of "Muros y Puertas (Mirrors and Doors)." Matthews then played his new song "Samurai Cop," complete with the orchestra, Varela, and Alonso Orlando. After that song, Dave was left with the orchestra, where he performed a brand new song called "Here On Out." This was the first time that "Here On Out" was played live, but the song title was actually revealed back in May of 2015, when composer David Richard Campbell (aka Beck's father) posted an image with the name on some sheet music. The song selection makes sense, as Matthews actually had an orchestra in the studio when recording "Here On Out" at the time. SEE THE Live for Live Music PAGE & WATCH THE VIDEO   p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} span.Apple-tab-span {white-space:pre}

If there ever were such a post, surely Joshua Bell would be the country's musical poet laureate. How else to describe his playing? It's thoughtful, imaginative, and rigorously coherent. And it's wonderfully expressive, too, even if Bell's pitch is sometimes a bit wayward. If the latter's the price to pay for playing of such passion and interpretations of such warmth, though, so be it. Bell's combination of musicianship, intensity, and charm has made him one of the most rightly popular violinists of his generation: he's one of a precious few, after all, whose playing is marked by a distinctive personality. On Saturday night, a sold-out crowd at Mechanics Hall got to experience that winning charisma when Music Worcester brought Bell and pianist Alessio Bax to town for a much-awaited recital of pieces by Beethoven, Brahms, Ysaÿe, Debussy, and Sarasate.  READ THE FULL Worcester Telegram ARTICLE p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px}

Johannes Brahms, the perfectionist, destroyed many of his early works. Yet he kept his first published piece of chamber music, even after revising it 35 years later. Joshua Bell's latest recording - 'For the Love of Brahms' on Sony Classical with cellist Steven Isserlis, pianist Jeremy Denk and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, is a landmark the new album is a unique project that features works of Brahms and Schumann that Bell calls "music about love and friendship." A personal, deeply affectionate impulse frequently sparked the music of Johannes Brahms and his mentor, Robert Schumann – often including their mutual friend, the violinist and composer Joseph Joachim. It clearly drove all three works on For the Love of Brahms. WRTI: Philadelphia - Susan Lewis talked with violinist Joshua Bell, who has recorded the Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 that Brahms wrote when he was just 20 years old.  LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

We are Texas Tech Public Radio and we depend on your support to continue bringing you the national and local 89.1FM programs you love! Even ven a small financial donation from you makes an impact during our Fall Fund Drive which has just begun running through October 28. We depend on the generosity of you, our friends of Texas Tech Public Radio to continue to provide exemplary programming for everyone in our region. Your support helps provide quality news, information, and classical music programming that cannot be heard anywhere else on the South Plains. By pledging online you help reduce a tremendous amount of paperwork, and decrease the time needed to process your donation. The Joshua Bell: Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell & Friends - CD is one of KTTZ's thank you gifts available at various pledge levels.  Click here to see the titles being offered

In town this week for four dates with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, violinist Joshua Bell had been up since 5 a.m. when we spoke in his suite at a West Hollywood hotel. He had flown to L.A. and then appeared on "The Tavis Smiley Show." He has a new album out, "For the Love of Brahms" ("I know, corny title," he said), with an all-star trio,including pianist Jeremy Denk and cellist Steven Isserlis. There's also a "Live from Lincoln Center" special scheduled for Dec. 16 called "Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba," in which he performs with the Chamber Orchestra of Havana. For this edited conversation, Bell, 48, recalled Neville Marriner and discussed why he loves Brahms, his trip to Cuba and the thrill of acting with the Fonz. READ THE Q&A

It almost seemed like Music Midtown had started early. Not only was there a horrendous traffic snarl in Midtown Atlanta two nights before the music festival at Piedmont Park was set to begin, but there was also great music in the air. On Sept. 15, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra opened its 2016-17 season at Symphony Hall with a full Tchaikovsky program under the baton of music director Robert Spano. The program featured star violinist Joshua Bell as soloist on the Concerto in D Major. Traffic aside, it would be hard to imagine a more compelling and exciting opening night. READ THE FULL Atlanta Journal-Constitution REVIEW READ ARTSATL

Joshua Bell is a very busy violinist. One of the world's most celebrated and in-demand classical musicians, an acclaimed virtuoso and former child prodigy, he's just off a summer tour with superstar trumpeter Chris Botti. He's about to embark on a 30-city tour that will take him from Atlanta to Zurich. Since 2011, Bell has been music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, succeeding its founder, Sir Neville Marriner. He recently joined Turnaround Arts, which gives kids in struggling schools access to arts education. He's made a couple of cameos on Amazon's classical music-themed streaming series "Mozart in the Jungle." Bell's latest album of many, "For the Love of Brahms," recorded with the Academy, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk, is due out Sept. 30. He has three children. Even his violin – the nearly-$4 million Gibson ex-Huberman Stradivarius – has its own biography. On Sept. 22 and 23, Bell will join Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, fresh from their own triumphant European tour, for two season-opener concerts. In August, he gave a telephone press conference for several reporters in cities early on his tour itinerary. That way, he wouldn't have to answer the same questions a zillion times and we could all share the highlights. READ THE FULL MinnPost ARTICLE

"I just love Joshua Bell!" gushed a lady next to me as we filed into David Geffen Hall for Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra's August 17th concert. Greeted by a cheering audience, the comfortably attired, still youthful Grammy Award-winning violinist 48-year old Bell -accompanied by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra under the baton ofMatthew Hall [in his New York debut] -won a standing ovation for his bravura performance of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major [which -the program noted-included "Original cadenzas by Joshua Bell"]. The orchestra also performed Mendelssohn's "Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream (1826), Beethoven's "Overture to Coriolan" (1807) and Beethoven's Symphony No 8 in F major (1812). SEE THE FULL Forward PAGE

The Music Institute of Chicago 86th Anniversary Gala presents special guest, violinist: Joshua Bell who will receive the Dushkin Award from the Four Seasons Hotel. The MIC Anniversary Gala is the single largest source of merit scholarship and need based financial aid for students of the Community Music School and the Academy, as well as underwriting for the for Music Institute's longstanding outreach programs. Through the generosity of civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders, more than 500 Music Institute of Chicago students receive more than $500,000 in financial aid and scholarships each year. The Dushkin Award was established in 1985 in memory of the Music Institute's founders, Dorothy and David Dushkin. Each year, the Music Institute of Chicago honors an individual who exemplifies the spirit of the award as an exceptional artist, music educator, and role model for our students.  READ FULL Chicago Tribune ARTICLE

Few cities can match London when it comes to world class orchestras. From the Royal Philharmonic to the Academy of Ancient Music to the London Symphony to any of a dozen more, London has become one of the great centers of orchestral performance in today's world. Since 1959, one of those great ensembles has been the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. In 2011, Sir Neville Marriner, the orchestra's founding music director passed his baton to a new-generation director, American violinist Joshua Bell. Hear Joshua Bell conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 this Thursday night August 18, ON Mozart's Attic - 'Space Coast' 89.5 WFIT

The Minnesota Beethoven Festival has been nestled in the town of Winona, situated among the stunning bluffs of southeast Minnesota, since 2007, making 2016 its tenth anniversary season. Among a stellar lineup of performers were violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Alessio Bax. Bell and Bax collaborated on a performance at Winona State University's Somsen Auditorium, where they performed for a sold-out audience. In the first half of the program, you'll hear Beethoven's Sonata No. 9 for Violin and Piano in A Major - it's known as the Kreutzer Sonata. The second half of the program features Ravel's Sonata No. 2 for violin and Piano in G major. Classical MPR's Julie Amacher is your host. Listen to the rebroadcast on Thursday, July 21, at 7 p.m., on Classical Minnesota Public Radio. You can also listen to the complete program audio using the audio player above (available until July 28, 2016).
  Joshua Bell, Violin
Alessio Bax, piano
Recorded July 5, 2016, at Harriet Johnson Auditorium, Somsen Hall
Winona State University, Winona, Minn.   Part One
Vitali: Chaconne
Beethoven: Sonata No. 9 "Kreutzer" Part Two
Ravel: Sonata No. 2
Ponce: Estrellita
Wieniawski: Scherzo Tarantelle
de Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen

Chris Botti & Joshua Bell with the Colorado Symphony at Red Rocks Amphitheatre - Sunday, July 24, 2016 | Concert 7:30 pm - Doors 6:30pm. It's a double billing of out-of-this stratosphere musicianship as two renowned Grammy winners, jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and violinist Joshua Bell, join forces on tour including a special stop at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Botti and Bell, both leaders in their respective fields of jazz and classical, share much in common. In addition to performances at the White House and on the Grammy Awards telecasts, both artists are Grammy winners, have topped the Billboard Charts, and have sold countless records. Join us for an unforgettable evening with these two superstars!  SEE THE KUVO: Radio - Denver PAGE

Technically, Tanglewood has been open for three weeks so far this summer. But for classical music fans like myself, Friday night felt like opening night. That's because Friday was the first night this season the Boston Symphony Orchestra performed at this glorious gem nestled in the Berkshires. And without the BSO, there would be no Tanglewood since they created this performing arts center in the 1930s to serve as the orchestra's summer home. Friday's program included three, lesser-known pieces by three, well-known composers: Ravel's "Albordada del Gracioso," the Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 in B Flat, and the piece most people probably came to hear. The Saint-Saens' Violin Concerto No. 3. That's because the soloist for this work was famed violist Joshua Bell.  Like Yo Yo Ma, Bell is one of those rare, talented classical musicians that many people seem to know, even if they don't listen to classical music. A former child prodigy, Bell's also a larger-than-life character. He drives a Maserati. He plays a Stradivarius. And even though he's 48 years old, he still looks boyish with his bushy hair cut and lively movements on stage. But none of that would really matter if Bell didn't consistently deliver outstanding performances. On Friday night, Bell did not disappoint his devoted fans. Right from the very first note, Bell sounded spectacular in this dramatic music that seems tailor made for being performed outdoors. At times, Bell's violin sounded like a bird soaring and fluttering through the air inside The Shed. Bell even seemed to conjure a welcome cool breeze during the subtle, second movement. READ THE FULL MassLive ARTICLE READ THE The Boston Musical Intelligencer REVIEW READ THE Taunton Daily Gazette REVIEW

Veteran violinist and conductor Joshua Bell captured the wave of a viral video craze in 2007, performing in a Pulitzer Prize-winning social experiment for the Washington Post. Releasing new album Brahms this fall, the music director at the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields will guest star on television series Royal Pains this Wednesday night, June 29. Music Times spoke with Bell about the famed Post piece, his past collaborations with the likes of Sting and Kristin Chenoweth, and his upcoming collection of Johannes Brahms' compositions. As a bonus for our readers, Bell has shared with Music Times an exclusive Spotify playlist of his favorite classical recordings. Listen below!

Joshua Bell makes a very special guest appearance on the "Royal Pains," airing on the USA Network on Wednesday, June 29. Playing himself, Bell performs an original song by Tom Kitt in a scene with Cloris Leachman, who guest stars as a London West End diva. Also making special guest appearances are Henry Winkler and Christine Ebersole. This is the second to last episode of the final season of the series which stars Mark Feuerstein, Paulo Costanzo, Reshma Shetty, Brooke D'Orsay, Ben Shenkman, and Campbell Scott. The episode, titled "The Good News" was written and directed by Michael Rauch (who also co-wrote the lyrics with Tom Kitt). Executive Producers: Michael Rauch and Andrew Lenchewski.  The writers, Michael Rauch and Antonia Ellis, have worked with Joshua Bell on Rauch's show "Love Monkey," and are huge fans of JB's.

American violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era, and his restless curiosity, passion, and multi-faceted musical interests are almost unparalleled in the world of classical music. Named the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 2011, Bell is the first person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and orchestra leader, Bell's 2015 summer highlights include a South American and European tour with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, a tour to South Africa, including appearances with the Johannesburg Philharmonic and Starlight Classics, performances in New York and Shanghai with the New York Philharmonic and summer festivals including Verbier, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart and Saratoga. Recently, Bell called Alexander Glazunov's Violin Concerto "real juicy violin stuff." On Today's Wednesday June 22 - Performance Today, we'll take a musical trip to Cincinnati to hear Bell play that very concerto in concert with the Cincinnati Symphony. LISTEN TO THE SEGMENT

The International İzmir Festival, which has been bringing top composers and performers to the Aegean port city for the last 30 years, opened to a full house on May 17 with a concert by violinist Joshua Bell. Bell, one of world's best living violinists who recently participated in a project by the Washington Post to show that people could find good music anywhere, including the subway, seems an apt choice for a festival that has taken music to unlikely locations for the last 30 years. The festival has brought Baroque Cantatas to the Celsus Library in Ephesus; the Berlin Philharmonic to the excavation center in Kadifekale  and Jose Carreras to the ancient theater of Ephesus. Inviting a steady stream of celebrities from Kiri Te Kanawa to Tanita Tikaram, Mikhail Baryshnikov to Elton John, the festival makes use of city squares, excavation centers in İzmir's impoverished districts, the heart of city's Culture Park and, of course, the sumptuous Ephesus.   READ THE FULL Hurriyet Daily News ARTICLE

Monets and Picassos weren't the only priceless works of art in our tenth-floor galleries the evening of 3 May. Sotheby's had the honour of hosting a 300-year-old Italian Stradivarius and its world-renowned owner, violinist Joshua Bell. In front of an intimate gathering of collectors and accompanied flawlessly by pianist Alessio Bax, the Grammy award-winning virtuoso played four compositions, each inspired by works in our upcoming Impressionist & Modern Art Evening sale. Along with Simon Shaw, Sotheby's Co-Head, Worldwide, Impressionist & Modern Art, Bell talked about the dynamic between the selected works and music, offering a fresh take on both art forms. The spellbound audience listened to Bell's masterly performance, which concluded with a standing ovation. Below, discover the inspiration behind Bell's four pairings. SEE THE FULL Sotheby's PAGE WATCH THE PERFORMANCE

Violinist Joshua Bell joins US cultural mission to Cuba following President Barack Obama's visit to the country last month, signifying a thaw in diplomatic relations. The delegation also includes writers, artists and musicians and aims to ‘advance deeper cooperation around the common bonds of our heritages.' Participants includie - theatre director and choreographer Martha Clarke, playwright John Guare, ballet company director Lourdes Lopez, soprano Larisa Martinez, and singer-songwriters Dave Matthews, Smokey Robinson and Usher. READ THE FULL Strad ARTICLE

The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will begin the 2016-17 season on September 12, 2016 with an opening night gala featuring world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell. The virtuoso violinist is one of the world's most accomplished musicians and has a long-standing career of excellence. Bell's gala performance will mark the beginning of the LSO's 2016-17 season entitled the 70th Anniversary Season, creating a pristine opportunity to celebrate the LSO. Other performers participating in the LSO's 70th Anniversary season include Director of Orchestral Studies for Virginia Commonwealth University, guest conductor Daniel Myssyk, pianist Adam Golka, The Lubbock Chorale, and many others.     READ THE FULL Texas Tech Public Media ARTICLE

The last time superstar violinist Joshua Bell brought the Academy of St Martin in the Fields to Symphony Hall, in 2012, the bill included a big violin concerto - the Beethoven - and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Sunday, in a return engagement sponsored by the Celebrity Series, the big violin concerto was the Tchaikovsky, and the Beethoven symphony was No. 8. There was nothing revelatory about the program, or the performances, but plenty to enjoy. Bell conducted from the concertmaster's chair, using both his body and his bow to cue the rest of the 40-member orchestra. First and second violins were not antiphonally seated, but in the end that hardly mattered. Prokofiev's brief, Haydn-inspired Symphony No. 1, the "Classical," was the attractive program opener. Bell's reading was less acidic than is often the case, with full-blooded contributions from horns and timpani. He kept the motor running throughout; the Larghetto tripped delicately, the Gavotte had more swagger than usual, and the Finale went with easy brio. READ THE FULL Boston Globe REVIEW READ Harvard Crimson REVIEW

It was prized, stolen and disguised - after helping its owner and Albert Einstein spirit dozens of musicians out of Hitler's Germany. No wonder Joshua Bell cherishes the 300-year-old Stradivarius violin he'll play Monday at Lincoln Center: Its history is more twisted and uplifting than any work of fiction. The Grammy winner remembers seeing it nearly 15 years ago in a London shop where he went to buy some strings. The shopkeeper emerged from a back room "with a stunning violin in hand," Bell, 48, recalls. "He told me it was the famous Huberman Strad, and I was instantly intrigued." Bell didn't know the whole story back then, but he did know this: The violin spent nearly 50 years incognito - the golden varnish that violin-maker Antonio Stradivari applied in 1713 slathered with black shoe polish. READ THE FULL New York Post ARTICLE READ algemeiner ARTICLE

Joshua Bell is a very busy man. The violinist first performed with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields as a visitng artist when he was still a college student. Now he's the orchestra's music director and plays roughly 100 dates a year as a visiting soloist with orchestras around the world. The Academy is primarily a touring ensemble; serving as their music director doesn't give Bell any relief from the constant churn of airports and hotel rooms he calls "exhausting." But in the nearly five years since he took the group's helm, Bell says he and the orchestra's musicians have developed a relationship that helps him delve deeper into compositions he already knew and loved. "They're an amazing group. They play chamber music like a big, glorified string quartet the way they listen and sit on the edge of their seats. It's an experience I treasure." For their performance at the Schermerhorn on Tuesday, Bell and the ensemble will be playing a program of music by composers he considers the two great prodigies of music history: Mozart and Mendelssohn.  READ THE FULL Nashville Public Radio ARTICLE

The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (ASMF) performed at Harris Theater Saturday night under their music director, violinist Joshua Bell. While the evening's repertoire was routine, the performances were anything but, featuring inspired artistry and superlative playing from Bell and the storied ensemble. As an accompanying ensemble, ASMF handles like a Maserati. One of many examples of this occurred in the concerto's first movement passages where the orchestra has isolated offbeats under rapid runs in the violin. In conducted performances these spots can find the orchestra tensely at the ready waiting for cues from the podium, while ASMF simply placed the punctuations where they belonged with little apparent effort, aurally following their director's lead. READ THE FULL Chicago Classical REVIEW

You know it promises to be an interesting evening when center stage has no podium, no baton, no sheet music. In the case of Monday's Philharmonic Society of Orange County concert in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the coveted spot - often graced by the world's great conductors - oftentimes had no one. That's because the evening's performing ensemble in the Costa Mesa venue - Academy of St. Martin in the Fields - has no conductor. Rather, the acclaimed London-based chamber orchestra is headed by American violin virtuoso Joshua Bell, who pulls double duty by leading the group and performing in pieces himself. On Monday, the result was a refreshing mix of a well-honed classic - Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major - and some lesser-played works by the masters, Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1.

Instantly, we knew that we were in for a fine night of music, as the woodwinds in particular demonstrated their world-class skills with a playful virtuosity. Indeed, the orchestra kept it remarkably light throughout all the pieces - clean, crisp, little edge to speak of. READ THE FULL Los Angeles Times REVIEW

A program that looked rather ordinary going in – the Academy of St Martin in the Fields playing standard repertory works by Prokofiev, Bruch, and Beethoven, along with a less familiar Schumann extract – unspooled as an intriguing and instructive tale of two concerts Sunday, March 6, at Davies Symphony Hall. The first half of the evening was flat-out wonderful. With superstar violinist and St Martin Music Director Joshua Bell leading the way from his concertmaster post, the orchestra opened with a limber, wit-filled, and joyous performance of Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony, No. 1. The chamber-scale band muscled up a bright, full-bodied sound without ever pushing or straining to do it. READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice REVIEW

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is, quite rightly, the primary star of Thursday's centennial concert at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall - 100 years to the day since the ensemble debuted. But a little extra star power doesn't hurt. Joining music director Marin Alsop and the BSO will be one of the most gifted and popular violinists on the scene, Joshua Bell. He'll be the soloist in the Suite from Bernstein's "West Side Story" (arranged by William David Brohn), a work Bell recorded 15 years ago with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by former BSO music director David Zinman. "I've always loved the Meyerhoff," Bell says. "I have many fond memories of every concert [I played there] with David Zinman, one of my favorites. And I love 'West Side Story.' I have started playing the Suite again. After I recorded it, I dropped it for many years." READ THE FULL Baltimore Sun ARTICLE READ Washington Post REVIEW READ Baltimore Sun REVIEW

Last Sunday afternoon Joshua Bell and pianist Sam Haywood gave a recital of Vitali, Beethoven and Fauré on the Spivey Hall stage, a gilded "frame" with superb acoustics that provided just the ideal circumstance for Bell's artistry and Haywood's crystalline sound. Spivey Hall only accommodates 400 audience members, but on this day all seats were claimed and everyone was paying close attention. Bell and Haywood opened with the Chaconne in G minor, a technical tour de force by Tomaso Antonio Vitali that was later arranged by 19th century German violinist Ferdinand David. Beethoven's Violin Sonata in A major; Op. 47 was the centerpiece of the program. The Spivey Hall audience was able to relish the obvious musical dialogue between Bell and Haywood, particularly within the third movement which boasts brisk tempos and sharp dynamic contrasts. Before dazzling his audience with three well-chosen encores that included Johannes Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No. 1" and an adaptation of Frederic Chopin's "C# Minor Nocturne," Bell offered Gabriel Fauré's Sonata No. 1 in A Major. A composer whom Maurice Ravel believed came closest to genius within his mélodie, Fauré excelled at composing intimate musical forms including over 100 songs that exude elegance and economy of means.   READ THE FULL Arts ATL REVIEW

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields was once the world's favourite chamber orchestra but, in recent years, it has been usurped by young upstarts. How to seize back the crown? Wisely, it takes the view that it's no use trying to reinvent itself as a cutting-edge orchestra for new music. Nor does it compete with the "period-instrument" orchestras. So apart from a few cautious ventures into commissioning new pieces, the Academy has to make the repertoire that made it famous seem fresh and new, all over again. The very first chord of Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, which opened last night's concert, promised to do exactly that. It's an overplayed piece but that doesn't alter the fact it's technically challenging. The violin lines in the first movement twist and turn on a sixpence, and the whole piece has to fizz with a combination of Mozartian grace and Tchaikovskian fantasy. This performance certainly delivered. Joshua Bell, the starry American violinist who is the Academy's current director, urged the orchestra on from the leader's chair. The periodic eruptions from timpanist Adrian Bending made us sit bolt upright, and the twittering from flautists Michael Cox and Sarah Newbould suggested an aviary had been let loose in the Festival Hall. READ THE FULL Telegragh REVIEW READ The Strad REVIEW

by Joshua Bell - Nerves can be a blessing and a curse. Certainly a degree of nervous energy can give an excitement to your playing – and can mean you have more reserves at your disposal when you need them on stage. It does depend on the level of fear, however. There's good nervous energy – the kind where you feel excited, like paying to ride a roller coaster. But outright fear is bad – where you would rather be anywhere else but on stage! You definitely want to avoid that kind of stress, and the best way is through preparation – the more prepared you are, the less of that kind of fear you will experience. READ Joshua Bell's FULL Strad PIECE

I'm performing and directing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for the first time in November and I can't wait. This is a piece I have performed maybe 1,000 times in concert, and every time I work with a conductor I have to be diplomatic, because obviously I can't run the rehearsal. But I have a very clear idea of the way I would like the piece to be performed, and of the details in the orchestral part that I would like to hear. So it will be exciting to dive in and experiment. We won't start rehearsing until two days before the concert, but luckily I know the orchestra very well. They understand my musical language and how I lead, and they know where to be pro-active. They really do play like chamber musicians. - Joshua Bell  READ THE FULL Strad PIECE

Joshua Bell has been a classical music star since his debut at age 14. He has collaborated with everyone from trumpeter Chris Botti to opera star Renée Fleming, Alison Krauss, Josh Groban and even Vegas entertainer Frankie Moreno. Now nearing 50, the Bloomington, Indiana native talks with "Chicago Tonight" about his early years, the greatness of the Stradivarius and his favorite collaborators. He'll also treat us to a live performance with pianist Sam Haywood. Bell and Haywood perform together this Friday evening in recital at Chicago Symphony Center. The program includes Beethoven and Fauré.           Bell brought to our studio his gorgeous violin, a Stradivarius made in 1713. We asked him to tell us about it.   "It's a pretty amazing thing. It's a work of art, it's also an incredible tool," he said. "They can't make them like this anymore, and I was very lucky to get this about 13 or 14 years ago.   "There's something so magical when you pick up a Stradivarius. The sound has a refinement that's hard to describe in words, actually. The projection of a Strad in a concert hall is something also very special. You'd think we'd be able to just copy it and make it ... There's something, maybe the aging, something about the climate at the time in Italy. Most of the great violins were made in a very small town in Italy around the same time period, so it's a little bit of a mystery still, why these are so special."

The violin, a Stradivarius from 1713, rested in the crook of Joshua Bell's arm. Valued at $15 million, the instrument sat silent as Bell spoke Sunday afternoon to a group of students. He gripped the violin's bow, worth some $250,000, in his other hand. The small group, gathered to hear him speak before his concert, murmured at the price. "I could have a couple of Ferrari cars, but I choose to have this bow," Bell quipped. In less than an hour Bell would step onto the stage of the Grass Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church. The concert, part of InConcert Sierra's Third Sunday season, was sold out. People lined the pews to hear the virtuoso whose tour will take him this month to Carnegie Hall.       READ THE FULL Grass Valley Union ARTICLE AND WATCH THE VIDEO

When I walked into the Victory on Sunday afternoon for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's season-opening performance, I couldn't take my eyes off the hundreds of attendees filling the theater to the brim to see the orchestra play alongside one of the world's foremost violinists, Joshua Bell. The opening of the 2015-2016 Philharmonic season proved to be a night that dazzled brightly and showed what talent Evansville has and can attract. Bell has played with the Philharmonic before, at the start of the career when Music Director Alfred Savia first started with the Philharmonic. His return to Evansville was a sight to behold, and one many won't soon forget. Bell's solo was the Bruch Concerto No. 1, a romantic piece that Bell vivaciously performed with the help of the Philharmonic. Bell's performance was a lyrical as any sung melody, bringing me close to tears by the end of the concerto. His passion, raw talent and determination to bring the audience into the story of the piece had us all in a trance. My goose bumps lingered long after I left the Victory. Bell returned for an encore of "Yankee Doodle" that had me wishing I could sing along and hop out of my seat. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was in awe of how fast and precise was each note of his flawless rendition. The orchestra rose to the occasion with Bell and during the piece they took on without him. It opened with the Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture," which Savia described as the student drinking songs of Brahms' time. The piece was an excellent warm-up into what would be a stellar soloist performance from Bell, which showcased the entire orchestra beautifully without giving too much away for the second half of the concert. Beethoven's "Eroica" closed the season opener. READ THE FULL Evansville Courier&Press ARTICLE

During his first season with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Alfred Savia noticed a soloist he'd never heard of slated to take on the Mendelssohn Concerto. That was Joshua Bell - who had, at that point, been playing with orchestras around the country at the start of his monumental orchestral career. "At such a young age, he took rigorous tradition and technique and created such lyrical and sweet sounding music when he played," Savia said. "It was magical." Bell - now a renowned violinist who has played around the world - will return to Evansville to open the Philharmonic's 2015-2016 season at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Victory. The concert, which will feature Bell performing the Bruch violin Concerto No. 1, is also in celebration of the University of Southern Indiana's 50th anniversary.  READ THE FULL Evansville Courier & Press ARTICLE

Win a chance to meet Joshua Bell, tickets to his performance, and dinner for two at SPAC Pledge to Northeast Public Radio's Locked Box and be entered to win amphitheater tickets to An Evening with Joshua Bell and the Philadelphia Orchestra on August 21st at SPAC. Prize includes dinner for two at the Patron's Club in the Hall of Springs at 6 p.m. and an invitation to a backstage meet and greet during intermission. The program includes DVOŘÁK Serenade for Strings, BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1, and BRAHMS Symphony No. 3.  The station will also be hosting Family Night so look for our table on the lawn and stop by to say hello to our staff and talent. Make your pledge to the Locked Box at 800-323-9262 ext. 145. The deadline to be entered to win is noon on August 20th and the winner will be chosen and notified that day.

Sometimes, all the stars align for a sensational evening. Thursday's Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concert starring violinist Joshua Bell will be remembered as one of the great performances of the season. But everything about this all-Russian concert was extraordinary, including the orchestra's performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11, "The Year 1905," led by Louis Langrée in the second half. And not least was the orchestra's announcement from the stage on Thursday that it raised $26 million, enabling the ensemble to add 14 full-time, tenured musicians to its roster. In all, there were four standing ovations – three of those went to Bell. Bell, 47, a native of Bloomington, Indiani, is a regular guest of the Cincinnati Symphony, but when he began to play his famous 300-year-old Huberman Stradivarius violin, it was a stunning reminder of the range of his artistry.  READ THE FULL Cincinnati.com REVIEW

Joshua Bell wowed audience and orchestra members alike with his performances of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto this weekend. The packed Davies Symphony Hall could be heard breathing a collective sigh of amazement as he finished a flawless and captivating first movement cadenza. Violinists on stage could be seen shaking their head in awe tinged with bewilderment.  To hear a musician of Bell's caliber can be as humbling as it can be inspiring. Bell was virtuosic as ever, with his signature, confident stage presence and sweet tone in all registers. The clean accuracy with which he hit the high notes and harmonics in the highest register was just stunning. Though performed every single year, the Tchaikovsky concerto was vitalized and passionate, and Maestro Pablo Heras-Casado and the San Francisco Symphony responded with equal vigor. Bell was sporting a black vest over a skin-tight plum-colored shirt, which was soaked to the elbows with perspiration by the end.  Apparently, he gave it all he had that Friday night, returning for the fourth and fifth curtain calls without his instrument despite audience pleas for an encore.  READ THE FULL San Francisco Classical Voice REVIEW

Peruse the specifics of Joshua Bell's performance on Friday night April 3rd with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and you will discover how everything, from the artist to the program to the very performance setting, is linked. First, consider the pairing: one of the world's most celebrated classical violinists collaborating with a student orchestra full of players roughly the age Bell was when the Indiana native made his performance debut in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world. "I enjoy being around young people who are sort of at the cusp of a musical career," the Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone award and Avery Fisher Prize winning Bell says. "I enjoy being around that sort of enthusiasm. I feel at that stage they are still ready to soak things in and learn. They have a real love of music which one should have throughout one's life. I spend most of my time playing with professional orchestras, and that can be wonderful, too. But there are times where you get the sense that most professional orchestras are doing it precisely as a profession. Sometimes it feels like you don't get the same sense of youthful enthusiasm of a student orchestra. My point is I enjoy being around young people. I've had 30 years of touring and making music professionally. Hopefully, some of that wisdom might be able to rub off on them."   READ THE FULL Lexington Herald Leader ARTICLE   Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/04/02/3780711_joshua-bell-performance-with-uk.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Leonia NJ resident Dylan Hamme may only be 12-years-old but he already knows what he wants to be when he grows up. "I want to become a concert artist," says the sixth grader. "I've got big plans for the future." After playing violin on the Today show with his idol Joshua Bell in September and performing a solo with the Bergen Sinfonia Orchestra in December, Hamme's well on his way. On March 28, he will make his formal debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Teaneck, where he will perform Gioachino Rossini's "Semiramide Overture," Joseph Haydn's "Symphony No. 104 ‘London'" and Édouard Lalo's "Symphonie Espagnole," a 35-minute, five-movement violin concerto that took three months of memorization and a year of practice to perfect. READ THE FULL NorthJersey.com INTERVIEW

Violinist Joshua Bell is going to be playing one of his favorite violin sonatas this Tuesday March 24th in Clearwater with pianist Sam Haywood at the Capitol Theatre.    The first Sonata in G, Opus 78, by Johannes Brahms really has a place in his heart. "It's the most lyrical piece I know. It doesn't have an ending that brings the house down, but every time I play it or hear it, I almost have tears just about to come out of my eyes, because it's just so beautiful and there's nothing like it," Bell said. But don't go looking for him to cry at his own concert. He said he's more apt to become emotional when listening, rather than playing the music. Bell's three sons are also playing music now. His five-year-old twins and seven-year-old play the cello, piano and violin. Bell said there is some talent there, and "it's fun to see." But he believes every child should study music, regardless of whether they make a career of it. "It should be in the schools," he said, not as an after-school elective. Bell is involved with an organization called Education Through Music, which brings programs to inner-city schools to kids who have no music at all. "Music has a beautiful way of bringing people together and learning how to give and take and how to share, you couldn't come up with a better tool than music, to teach people that," Bell said, " and everyone loves music." And while he has been called a "classical musician," he says it's not a title that suits him. He's been involved in films, and music projects far outside the realm of the genre. "You know classical musician is a strange term for someone who plays music that spans basically four-hundred years...I just think of myself as a musician and I love playing music from other genres, at least my classical take on it. I will never be a jazz violinist or bluegrass violinist, but I enjoy sort of having my take on that genre of music," he said. Bell loves technology and has participated in Google+ hangouts, and has even performed concerts at home and broadcast them on the internet. He said he's "keeping his eye out for new technologies and new ways to bring music to people."  As for those who say classical music is dying, Bell strongly disagrees. "It's so relevant, so we don't need to take Beethoven's 250-year-old music and update it, add a drumbeat, do this or that to make it relevant, but we can be more current in the way we present it and not bury our heads in the sand when it comes to technology."   LISTEN TO Susan Giles Wantuck's conversation with Violinist Joshua Bell

Joshua Bell, one of the most famous violinists in the world, also has one of the most famous violins. It's a 300-year-old Stradivarius called the Gibson ex Huberman, an impeccable instrument stolen twice in its storied life. Bell paid $4 million for it, and it goes everywhere. Surely it would start to talk to you, right? Like Tom Hanks' volleyball in Castaway? Bell laughed. And then, he kind of agreed. "It's a special thing, opening up the case every morning and seeing this object that has had so much history and so much happen to it over the 300 years," he said. "It almost feels like a living, breathing thing. I don't take it to the extreme as Tom Hanks did. It varies day to day. I get along with it better on some days than others, depending on the weather and the way it's responding. And I try to treat it with special care and take it to a special violin doctor." READ THE FULL Tampa Bay Times INTERVIEW

Camaraderie and energy marked Joshua Bell and Sam Haywood's duo performance in Helzberg Hall on Saturday night, presented by the Harriman-Jewell Series. Violinist Bell has the celebrity, with his iconic performance style, virtuosic abilities and highly publicized accomplishments (his treasured violin is older than the United States). Yet pianist Haywood wasn't just an accompanist, but rather an equal collaborator with a gentlemanly demeanor. Fully attuned to each other while playing, at the end of each piece they shared a friendly handshake before turning to the crowd for deferential bows to acknowledge the applause. The program featured a selection of primarily Romantic-era works, repertoire stalwarts that allowed for dramatic interpretations. Bell's workaday stage presence changed to one of confidence and flair when he brought the violin under his chin.  READ THE FULL Kansas City Star REVIEW

Grammy Award winner Joshua Bell for the first time recorded the masterpieces of J.S. Bach with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields(Sony Classical).  In his third season now as their music director, Bell performs Bach's sublime Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2, along with a never-done-before 'violin and orchestra' arrangement of the famous Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 (adapted from Mendelssohn's piano accompaniment), the Gavotte en Rondeau from Partita No. 3 for solo violin (using Schumann's accompaniment), and the universally beloved 'Air on the G string'. One of the most acclaimed classical musicians of today - renowned for his expressive, elegant, intelligent playing and his deep commitment to bringing the classical tradition to wider audiences, Bell will play at the Lied Center for Performing Arts on March 13.  He shared his career milestones and personal thoughts of modern-day classical music with the Daily Nebraskan. READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

Violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most acclaimed classical musicians of today. With over 40 albums he now takes on the great violin repertoire of Bach on his new Sony Classical CD of the same name. Recorded with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bell performs Bach's Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2, along with an arrangement of Chaconne fron - Partita No. 2, adapted from Mendelssohn's piano accompaniment, the Gavotte en Rondeau from Partita No. 3 for solo violin, using Schumann's accompaniment, and the universally beloved 'Air on the G string'. KBAQ: Tempe AZ - Sterling Beeaff sat down with Bell to discuss the album and the upcoming tour that includes pianist Sam Haywood. The pair are in town to play Arizona's Mesa Arts Center on Wednesday, February 25 with a performance of Brahms, Beethoven, Bartok and Grieg.  

He has been called "the poet of the violin," but when he's not playing his 300-year-old Stradivarius, Joshua Bell is very much the normal guy. A Midwesterner born in Indiana, he plays tennis and golf, and he's a huge football fan. So, can he explain that last play call in the Super Bowl? "Let's put it this way: It cost me a lot of money," Bell says. "I'm still scratching my head over it. It was a great game, but I still don't understand why they didn't run the ball. But, you know, hindsight. If he had caught it, we would have all thought they were geniuses." Bell came to fame playing the solos for the movie soundtrack "The Red Violin" in 1998 and has been a classical superstar ever since. He has recorded three dozen CDs and soundtracks, and in 2011 he was tapped as artistic director of the Academy of St Martins in the Fields, the acclaimed London chamber ensemble. On Wednesday, Feb. 25, Bell will launch his latest tour with English pianist Sam Haywood at the Mesa Arts Center. They will play sonatas by Beethoven, Brahms and Grieg and Bartók's Rhapsody No. 1 for Violin and Piano, as well as a few "bonbons" the Bell reserves for encores. He checked in with The Republic by cellphone en route to the airport for a trip to Italy. READ THE FULL AZCentral Q&A

Joshua Bell is the Crown Prince of Planet Violin, whether in performance when he conjures intensity and emotion through his 1713 Stradivarius, or tending to his global music kingdom. However, unlike some of the world's bloodline aristocrats - they all seem to have "issues," don't they? - Bell is mostly a happy man. Perhaps it's his ability to choose his calling. "I associate music with fun and joy," said the artist, who began performing before he entered high school and whose career continues to soar. Bell brings that attitude and his poetic playing to Toledo for a gala performance with the Toledo Symphony and Stefan Sanderling at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle. The concert is sold out. READ THE FULL Toledo Blade INTERVIEW & ARTICLE

An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Joshua Bell has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings and has been Grammy-nominated. His previous release, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, of the Beethoven 4th and 7th symphonies went straight to number 1 in the Billboard charts. Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th century French bow by François Tourte. Now Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields bring us, on a new release from Sony Classical, Bach's two solo violin concertos coupled with a number of Bach arrangements. There is a tremendously lively and incisive opening to the Allegro of the Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, BWV 1041 from Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Both Bell and his players bring some terrifically taut playing, wonderful ensemble and a real sense of joy in this real Allegro with some beautifully turned phrases. The Andante has a rich, gentle opening to which Bell brings a lovely tone as he weaves the melody around the orchestral accompaniment with the subtle harpsichord continuo. Bell's fine sonorities blend well over the lovely lower strings of the Academy. The concluding Allegro assai is full of bounce and verve with some terrific little decorations and the Academy is on fine form. These players seem to understand each other perfectly and play as of one mind. Bell's playing is truly phenomenal, so agile and beautifully phrased. READ THE FULL Classical Reviewer REVIEW.

Each week KDFC: San Francisco members can download a free mp3 from some of the biggest releases in the world of Classical music. The most intriguing items on this disc from Joshua Bell are new "arrangements" of the mighty Bach Chaconne and the jaunty Gavotte en Rondeau, adapted for strings by Julian Milone from the Mendelssohn piano accompaniment for the Chaconne and Schumann's similar underpinning for the Gavotte en Rondeau. Download a free mp3 of Bell performing Bach's Gavotte en Rondeau

He's one of the most famous violinists in the world - but when Joshua Bell fiddled incognito in a Washington Metro station, he barely cleared $30. Would he have made more busking in New York City? "Ah, I don't know," the 46-year-old Grammy winner says now, seven years later. "New York has some wonderful places where people play and have audiences. I pass some every day going up to Lincoln Center, when I change trains at the Times Square stop." Bell has a new Bach CD out; he'll perform with the NY Philharmonic Nov. 12 to 15 and 18. This is his classical music New York. READ THE FULL New York Post INTERVIEW.

Despite his reputation by classical music critics as "the world's greatest living violinist," Jewish violinist Joshua Bell wants to be regarded for his humility more than his fame. Bell will demonstrate his charm when he performs in concert at Broward Center on Nov. 1 at 8 p.m in Fort Lauderdale, FL. in sonatas for violin and piano as composed by Prokofiev and Schubert among other classical music works to be announced on stage. Bell will also be holding a masterclass for high school and college students prior to his concert. "You have to credit my Jewish upbringing about the importance of doing mitzvot, or giving back to others, that reflects how grateful I am to be a musician. My piano teacher (Russian Jewish violinist Joseph Gingold) gave me advice and taught me the beauty of music as I became idolized by the great violinists such as Mischa Elman, who was a contemporary of Gingold," said the 46-year-old Bell. READ THE FULL Sun Sentinel INTERVIEW. READ THE Miami Herald REVIEW.

This Tuesday, Joshua Bell will return to Santa Barbara to play an intimate recital with Italian pianist Alessio Bax (courtesy of UCSB Arts & Lectures). Despite being only 46 years young, the American violinist and conductor has recorded critically acclaimed albums for nearly three decades. Bell has served as music director for the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields since 2011 - the first person after founder Sir Neville Marriner to hold that position in the 55-year-old ensemble. Bell and the Academy orchestra have just released an unusual and very exciting recording of works by J.S. Bach, and Bell's connection with the composer runs deep. When the violinist first debuted as soloist with an orchestra - at age 7 - it was to play a concerto by J.S. Bach. Today, when Bell first lifts his violin in the morning, it is Bach that warms and loosens his fingers and bow. Yet so great is his reverence for the baroque master's music, and so firm is his conviction that ripeness is all, Bell has put off recording Bach until this year. The album, titled simply Bach, features gorgeously detailed interpretations of violin concertos No. 1 and No. 2, crisp and swift in the outer movements, breath-stopping and deep in the middle. Bell's articulation and technique are wonderfully fresh. READ THE FULL Santa Barbara Independent REVIEW.

First things on the program for Joshua Bell's Bach are Bach's two Violin Concertos, No. 1 in A Minor, BWV 1041 and No. 2 in E Major, BWV 1042. Bell, as soloist and leader of the orchestra, takes both of them at a modest clip. There is no rushing about here to outpace the historically informed crowd. Nor is the reading too slow or sluggish. Instead, Bell takes a middle ground, providing a stylishly elegant interpretation that does the music proud.

While I enjoyed Bell's control in the concertos, I liked the accompanying short pieces even more. First, there's the Chaconne, played in Mendelssohn's violin-and-piano arrangement with a further orchestral augmentation made by Julian Milone. Bell calls it an "arrangement of an arrangement" or a "homage to a homage." Whatever, it's delicious, subtle and refined, the orchestra never an intrusion on the detailed intricacy of the work, Mr. Bell's virtuosic musicianship always at the service of the music. READ THE FULL Classical Candor REVIEW.

LISTEN TO JULIE AMACHER'S INTERVIEW WITH JOSHUA BELL transcript - As Joshua Bell was growing up in Bloomington, Ind., his introduction to music came in large part by way of Johann Sebastian Bach. He would hear his mother and sisters play Bach Inventions on the piano. His father, a former Episcopal priest, worshipped in his own way to recordings of Bach's B Minor Mass. And Joshua Bell made his first public performance with an orchestra at the age of seven, performing a Bach violin concerto. Now, at age 46, Joshua Bell is finally doing something that might surprise you. "Basically this is my first Bach album, though I guess I've made 40 albums in the last 30 years," Bell admits. "But I finally felt ready to do something, to do a record with Bach. I found the right collaboration with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and felt ready for it and really enjoyed it so much." For his first Bach recording, Joshua Bell starts with Bach's Violin Concertos No. 1 and 2. Then Joshua Bell does something rather unconventional. He features an arrangement of an arrangement of Bach's Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 - music originally written for unaccompanied violin. "Well, someday I will record the solo sonatas and partitas I hope in the original form and in the way they should be recorded. But I thought it would be fun on this album, with the two concertos that have been recorded so many times before, to do something different to add to the album. An idea that I had was to do the Chaconne but to do it with an accompaniment. This was something that was done in the 19th century with piano. Mendelssohn wrote his homage to the Chaconne by writing a piano improvisation and so did Schumann. So I chose the Mendelssohn and had it orchestrated to play along with the ASMF. I thought it would be an interesting take on the Chaconne. Turned out better than I could have expected. "I did the same treatment with the Gavotte from the E major partita - I used Schumann's accompaniment because Schumann wrote piano accompaniment to all the partitas and sonatas. It's something a little different on this Bach album." Joshua Bell starts every day by playing Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin. He knows these works inside and out, so as you might imagine, playing these new arrangements posed its own challenges. "It was quite disconcerting because you're not used to hearing these counterpoints that were not written by Bach - that were in the imagination of Mendelssohn, for instance. With the solo Chaconne, Bach couldn't write every harmony. A lot of it is left to your imagination - you're supposed to fill it in with your brain. Well, Mendelssohn, with the orchestra accompaniment, can fill in all kinds of things. It's very different. In some ways, at certain places, it adds drama and richness - sort of in a 19th century way, but the beauty of Bach still comes through." Through Bach's music, Joshua Bell believes that each of us is given a glimpse of the essence of life itself. If you really want to hear the soul of Bach, Bell suggests you listen to the slow movements of the violin concertos, or the popular Air on the G string from Bach's Orchestral Suite in D major. "The Air on the G string - which is not really on the G string - it's one of the most beautiful pieces in all of classical music," says Bell. "I think there's a reason it's played so often at weddings and funerals. That's the thing about Bach. You can do it at either one of them. That's the sheer beauty and heaven … it can go either way. It's the most beautiful music I can think of." It may have taken Joshua Bell more than 30 years to make his first Bach recording, but it was worth the wait.

Releasing a recording of Bach's music is, for many instrumentalists, an essential life goal. Some tackle it early, with spectacular results (perhaps pianist Glenn Gould most famously, but also, more recently, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor). And some return to Bach several times over the course of their lives, their interpretations evolving over decades (like pianist Andras Schiff and cellist Pieter Wispelwey). Joshua Bell is by no means an elder statesman. At 46, though, he has been on the international stage for decades. He was 14 when he performed his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. But Bach, while a constant in Bell's life, has only now been added to the violinist's extensive discography. Now the Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the opportunity for a deeply collaborative effort - the kind not really available as a guest soloist - was finally available. READ THE FULL WCRB: Boston REVIEW

Following last year's acclaimed all-Beethoven recording, violinist Joshua Bell continues as Music Director and Conductor of the world-renowned Academy of St Martin in the Fields. On their new collaboration, this time with Bell also as a soloist, he conducts ASMF mostly from the concertmaster's chair in an all-Bach program. Bell is the first American and first person to hold the title of Music Director since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. Joshua Bell new Sony Classical release - Bach with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is the WFMT: Chicago - NEW RELEASE OF THE WEEK for October 6, 2014. Featured track is Bach: Violin Concerto in A minor, BWV 1041 (13:09)

A Grammy-award winning violinist, Joshua Bell is perhaps the best advocate for music education in this country. On Tuesday, October 14th at 7:30pm, Bell will be paid tribute by HBO with a new documentary, Joshua Bell: A YoungArts Masterclass. The National YoungArts Foundation (YAF) gives budding talents across the country an unparalleled experience to be mentored by some of the world's most phenomenal musicians. With this latest documentary, Bell will be able to showcase not only his unrivaled talent, but how he feels music should resonate with a younger generation. Watch the trailer for Joshua Bell: A YoungArts Masterclass and read the full Classicalite article.

Each month, WCLV - Cleveland Program Director Bill O'Connell selects a series of special CDs to be featured on the air throughout the month. For his October list, Bill has selected . Here are the highlighted tracks and airdates Bill has chosen and a few of his comments from about why this disc is a standout. As follow up to last-year's acclaimed all-Beethoven recording, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell continues as Music Director and Conductor of the world-renowned Academy of St Martin in the Fields. On their new collaboration, he conducts mostly from the concertmaster's chair in an all-Bach program, featuring the two violin concertos and the mighty Chaconne as arranged by Felix Mendelssohn. Movements from Bach Suites round out the disc. Joshua Bell is the first American and first person to hold the title of Music Director since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958.  Bach: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2; Chaconne - Joshua Bell, violin; Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Sony 308779). Featured Wed 10/1, Fri 10/10, Tue 10/21, Thu 10/30

In January 2007, Joshua Bell performed in a Washington, D.C. Metro station where over 1,000 people passed him with only a few stopping to listen. Already a widely popular performer, Bell became even more well known after this social experiment. He will play in public transit once again at Washington, D.C.'s Union Station today at 12:30p to help promote music education and will be joined by nine Young Arts Foundation students he mentored. Bell's Sony Classical album - Bach, featuring his ensemble the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, is also being released today. READ THE FULL NPR Feature HERE

Joshua Bell is set to play the Pacific Symphony's season opener on Thursday Septenber 25th, at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Violinist and music director for the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Mr. Bell will perform a piece which he considers to be underplayed, the violin concerto by Alexander Glazunov.  JB plays a 1713 Stradivarius, which he discovered in London 13 years ago. Once owned by the Polish violinist Bronis¿aw Huberman, After a theft in 1936, the instrument went missing for half a century. His new Sony Masterworks album "Bach," recorded with the St. Martin ensemble coincides with a new HBO special called - "Joshua Bell: A YoungArts MasterClass." In addition to Joshua Bell, the program will feature John Williams' "Sound the Bells!", the West Coast premiere of Christopher Rouse's "Supplica," Richard Strauss' "Dance of the Seven Veils" and Ravel's Suite No. 2.  READ THE FULL Daily Pilot REVIEW

Along with his other musical activities, talented 11-year-old violinist Dylan Hamme, plays on the streets of New York City. This got him noticed and invited to perform on the NBC: Today Show. His idol, Joshua Bell, surprises him and they play a duet together. 

The Albany Symphony Orchestra opens its 85th Anniversary Season on Saturday, September 6th. They are joined by Joshua Bell, one of the world's most celebrated violinists, with a performance of Bruch's Violin Concerto, arguably the most famous in the repertoire.  READ THE FULL WAMC ARTICLE HERE

Musical lines are like sentences, and their character can vary as much as sentences do. Soem players will produce a given passage plainly, like a quotation from John Grisham. But on Wednesday evening at Avery Fisher Hall. with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra under David Zinman, the star violinist Joshua Bell was like a Henry James in tone. READ THE FULL New York Times ARTICLE HERE

While most of my colleagues were gone for the weekend, I was in my room on Tower Parkway on a Saturday night. Quite by luck I came across station WMNR Fine Arts Radio, a splendid 24-hour classical music station broadcasting to patrons in Connecticut and across Long Island Sound into New York. My timing was perfect. I tuned in shortly before guest conductor Kurt Masur raised his baton to lead the 100-plus musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra "live" from Tanglewood, with Joshua Bell soloing on his 1713 Antonio Stradivarius violin. READ THE FULL Spectrum ARTICLE

Over the past 40 years I've interviewed hundreds of musicians, but when the opportunity came for me to talk to violinist, conductor, and composer Joshua Bell, I felt like a giggly teenager. I've admired Bell throughout his illustrious career, especially his willingness to depart from convention, from how he dresses to the kind of repertoire he performs and records. Oh, he's also incredibly good-looking. Three years ago Bell was appointed music director of the St. Martin in the Fields orchestra in London. He is a relentlessly active recording artist and performer around the world. I talked to Bell under less than ideal conditions. He was in Napa, California, in a bad cell phone reception area. When we could finally hear each other, he was in a parking lot, late for a rehearsal of Vivaldl's Four Seasons for the sold out opening night of the Festival del Sole. "It's a crazy week," he said. His stamina seems superhuman. He had just played the Bruch concerto at the Hollywood Bowl the night before I talked to him. After the Napa concert, he's on his way to Michigan to play the Mendelssohn violin concerto. Then it's off to New York, where he lives, to play the Bruch concerto in two outdoor concerts with the New York Philharmonic, then Mendelssohn again in Shippensburg Thursday night. He'll end this marathon of performances at the Tanglewood Festival in western Massachusetts with Lalo's 'Symphonie Espagnol'. READ THE FULL PennLive.com INTERVIEW.

A trumpet is more or less a trumpet. A clarinet is a clarinet. But violin or a viola... they are different. More like living breathing things. Hand crafted from wood, from a tree. Every one is different. And, you know the story. Antonio Stradivari, was the master. Some say the greatest violin maker to ever live. The Stradivarius is one of the most powerful and expensive brands in the world. And certainly, the guy made really nice instruments. But how nice exactly. This is a question that comes up all the time with all kinds of products: coffee, clothes, dish washing detergent, jeans and shoes. How much of a brand is real? And how much is in our heads? Joshua Bell joins David Kestenbaum and guest host Lisa Pollak to discuss his very own Strad. Listen to the discussion about the famous Stradivarius on NPR's Planet Money.

The tuxedoes with tails and the white ties had to go. Early in his career, Joshua Bell decided that to connect with those who were perhaps intimidated by the ceremonious world of classical music, he'd have to shed some of the formality as he played sweepingly melodic compositions on his 300-year-old Stradivarius violin. He felt more relaxed in a button-down shirt and slacks or a sharp suit as he performed the works of the world's greatest composers, sometimes introducing them with witty anecdotes and interesting insights. Anything Bell can do to remove the stuffy veil while respecting the music, even playing anonymously in a baseball cap inside a Washington, D.C., subway station, he's more than willing to try. READ THE FULL HamptonRoads ARTICLE and see him play with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts this weekend.

The posessions of the late Huguette Clark, one of the wealthiest and most secretive women in America, will be auctioned off. They include a Stradivarius violin worth an estimated $7.5 million and a Claude Monet painting valued as high as $30 million. Joshua Bell visited Christie's auction house to perform with the Stradivarius from the estate. Watch Joshua Bell on The Today Show.

The San Antonio Symphony, will celebrate its 75th anniversary with Joshua Bell at the Majestic Theatre, on June 14. Mr. Bell joins the Symphony under the direction of Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing in this program of musical selections performed during the June 1939 inaugural concert to include works from Wagner and Strauss, as well as the stunningly powerful Sibelius violin concerto along with Ravel's Bolero. 

Could violinist Joshua Bell be the one who got the Minnesota Orchestra playing again? That's only conjecture, but when the orchestra's locked-out musicians announced they were hanging out their own shingle with a subscription concert series that featured Bell among the soloists, contract negotiations really heated up. Within a few weeks, a settlement was reached. Coincidence? Perhaps. READ THE FULL Pioneer Press REVIEW.

Master violinist Joshua Bell may best be known for his solo arrangement in the film 'The Red Violin' or his Wash DC subway experiment a few years ago. Mr. Bell who has his own Red Violin, a 300-year-old $4 million Stradivarius, may be tired of these references, but in the age of Lorde and 2 Chainz, it's quite a feat to command any widespread attention in popular culture as a touring classical musician. The Pitch sat down with him at a recent Kansas City / Kauffman Center date with Michael Stern leading the Symphony in Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra. READ The Pitch INTERVIEW

Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct the New York Philharmonic's annual New Year's Eve celebration, this year featuring musical humorists Igudesman & Joo in their Philharmonic debut and a special guest appearance by violinist Joshua Bell, tonight, December 31, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. The duo - violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-ki Joo - will perform original acts that will have Philharmonic musicians and Alan Gilbert joining in the fun. Highlights of the unique program will include Rachmaninoff by Himself, a piece that humorously acknowledges the origins ofEric Carmen's power ballad "All by Myself" in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2; A Very Blue Danube, taking Johann Strauss II's famed waltz to virtuosic extremes and poking fun at the waltz-filled Viennese New Year; and From Mozart with Love, in which Mozart's Symphony No. 40 and the James Bond theme are woven together. The evening will also include the World Premiere of Ring in the Classics, written by Igudesman & Joo for Alan Gilbert and featuring the Music Director in a spotlighted role.

With ‘Musical Gifts,' violinist Joshua Bell imagines friends coming to his home during the holidays and joining in on songs that celebrate the warmth, beauty and magic of the season. Bell is paired with a variety of special guests including Gloria Estefan, Alison Krauss, Kristin Chenoweth, Chris Botti, jazz greats Chick Corea and Branford Marsalis, opera stars Plácido Domingo and Renée Fleming, Michael Feinstein and a cappella group Straight No Chaser. Musical Gifts with Joshua Bell and Friends is WFMT: Chicago 'New Release of the Week.

Joshua Bell will perform selections from "Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends" TODAY!! Tuesday December 10th at 6p from WQXR's Greene Space. Joining JB are special guests Michael Feinstein, Frankie Moreno, the Young People's Chorus of New York and others. WQXR personality Elliott Forrest will host this special holiday music event.  WQXR will re-air the concert as a one-hour special on the following dates:
Dec. 18 at 10 pm
Dec. 24 at 3 pm
Dec. 25 at 12 pm These stations across the US will also carry the concert.   WRTI - Philadelphia, PA - 12/24 at 7 pm on HD2
WQED  - Pittsburgh - 12/24; 8pm
WDAV  - Davidson, NC - 12/16 at 9 pm
KCME - Colorado Springs                  
KBYU – Provo, Utah
WSMR - Tampa, FL
WNED – Buffalo, NY READ THE STORY & SEE THE VIDEO

Joshua Bell  performs "The Christmas Song" with Janelle Monae at the National Tree Lighting Concert in Wash DC TODAY!! Friday Dec. 6th. Take a look at the video of the full concert. JB is also joined later in the program by Renee Fleming for their version of "White Christmas." The special will air on PBS throughout the holidays.

Joshua Bell grew up in Bloomington, Ind., where he and his extended family knew how to get into the holiday spirit. His mother was Jewish, and his father, a former Episcopal priest turned psychotherapist, celebrated Christmas. "So around Christmastime, we'd have these musicales, as we'd call them. And everybody would get out their instruments and play, and I associate the holidays with music and celebration of course and that's really what the album is about," Bell explains. "I wanted to do an album that was sort of a broad celebration album, not just Christmas carols. I wanted it to be something a little different. And the title 'Musical Gifts' gives it a little more leeway there." Read the full article and listen to Julie Amacher's interview: Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends on PRI / MPR New Classical Tracks.

Twenty-five years into his career, Joshua Bell is arguably one of the few classical musicians who has attained recognition in popular culture as well as the concert hall. Last year he performed a bit of Vivaldi on the TV show "Dancing With the Stars," and in September he was a judge for the Miss America pageant. His recordings range from straight classical repertoire (as with his 2012 release with Jeremy Denk) to all-star assemblages like the 2009 "At Home with Friends," which included collaborators like Sting, Josh Groban and Chris Botti.  Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends is this week's WQXR's Album of the Week. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Famed violinist Joshua Bell follows up his star-studded 2009 CD, At Home with Friends, with Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends, a holiday album which supports the same concept: a bevy of colleagues and artists gathered together, this time to lend talents to end-of-year musical festivities. The 16-track, 67-minute outing showcases jazz (Chick Corea, Julian Lage, Branford Marsalis), classical (Renée Fleming, Plácido Domingo), crossover (Chris Botti), country (Alison Krauss), stage (Michael Feinstein, Kristin Chenowith), plus much more. Bell's varied repertoire runs from perennial favorites ("Let It Snow" and "White Christmas") to Jewish music ("Baal Shem: Simchat Torah"), and from traditional ("Greensleeves" and "Ave Maria") to parody (the enticing and fun "Christmas Confusion"). Thus, the program offers plenty of diversity, which helps maintain interest and provides both continuity and a wider scope than similar wintertime records. READ THE FULL REVIEW

Joshua Bell celebrates Christmas and Thanksgiving with his friends on medici.tv. Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell & Friends, features Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Michael Feinstein, Gloria Estefan, Alison Krauss, Kristin Chenoweth, Chris Botti, Chick Corea, Branford Marsalis and a cappella group Straight No Chaser. "I imagine friends coming to my home during the holidays and joining me on songs that celebrate the warmth, beauty and magic of the season" - Joshua Bell.

This exclusive concert is the first ever broadcast from a musician's home in the United States. The webcast will be available to stream until January 31.

Violinist Joshua Bell has been confirmed as one of the next year's(2014) Miss America contest judges. Alongside Bell in the judging roles will be a variety of notable cultural figures. Former 'N Sync singer Lance Bass, comedian Mario Cantone and basketball player Amar'e Stoudemire. READ ClassicFM ARTICLE      READ WQXR(NYC) ARTICLE

After 500 commercial recordings, mainly together, Sir Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields have been one of the most dependable names in the business for half a century. So with the great man turning 90 next year, there's more than a bit of interest in how American violinist Joshua Bell goes in his very first recording as the new music director of the venerable institution founded in Sir Neville's living room back in 1958. READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Big Think interviews experts who are either at the top of their fields or disrupting their fields. This blog presents key ideas from the experts in their own words.  I'm not a businessman so I don't know how to solve the problems of the recording industry.  The good thing from an artist point of view is that music is being accessed.  I'm happy if my music is being downloaded, whether it's legally or illegally - Joshua Bell READ THE FULL ARTICLE

If you want to fill the seats of your concert hall with young people, put young people on stage. The National Youth Orchestra of the United States, musicians ages 16 to 19, played the Kennedy Center Concert Hall for the first time Saturday night, and the hall was overrun with families, friends, fellow members of the region's youth orchestras and aspirants. The NYO-USA, spearheaded by Carnegie Hall, is starting with a bang. It's good news that Carnegie Hall is putting a lot of money into an outlet for talented young musicians. Money and prestige; the inaugural tour goes from Washington to London and Russia with conductor Valery Gergiev and violin soloist Joshua Bell. The kids - garbed in fire-engine red pants - are audibly thrilled. On Saturday, the orchestra, 120 members strong, presented the sonic equivalent of a Labrador, leaping out into the hall with infectious, woofy, enormous energy. READ THE FULL STORY

The Boston Symphony's season at Tanglewood opens TONIGHT: July 5 with Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos leading an all-Tchaikovsky program featuring violin virtuoso Joshua Bell in his 25th consecutive year performing at Tanglewood. READ MORE READ THE BOSTON GLOBE REVIEW READ THE BERSHIRE EAGLE REVIEW

Joshua Bell interviewed with 'Your Day's Roy Scott about his visit to South Carolina and about the new album with the?Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.?The piece aired statewide on the following stations to promote?Mr. Bell's upcoming performance at the Peace Center in Greenville on Feb. 24. WRJA-FM/88.1 Sumter
WNSC-FM/88.9 Rock Hill
WLJK-FM/89.1 Aiken
WJWJ-FM/89.9 Beaufort
WHMC-FM/90.1 Conway
WSCI-FM/89.3 Charleston
WEPR-FM/90.1 Greenville
WLTR-FM/91.3 Columbia Check out the Interview on the top of the page

"The power of Bell's communication is astonishing. The dazzling execution and powerful expression are mesmerizing. If classical concerts always reached the exciting energy demonstrated by his partnership with the ASMF, moguls of the classical industry could stop worrying about how to keep the tradition alive."    - The Australian Few new recordings of Beethoven's symphonies can sound ‘true,' but Joshua Bell's first recording as Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is just that. Bell leads the London orchestra in Beethoven's Symphonies No. 4 and No. 7 from the concertmaster chair, – both playing the violin, and conducting. Bell leads the Academy into a new era as the first person to be named Music Director of the Academy, since it was founded by the great violinist-conductor Sir Neville Marriner in 1958. Bell has a rich history with the Academy having recording Vivaldi's Four Seasons in 2008, Romance of the Violin, named Billboards' 2004 Classical CD of the Year, and Classical Recording Artist of the Year for Bell. It was also with the ASMF in 1988, at the age of 21, that that he made his very first concerto recording. The 2012 Bell/ASMF U.S. tour got rave reviews including the [London] Times noting: "they play with a sharp attack, rhythmic punch and a new joy in living…A new golden age might be here." Plans are to traverse the composer's entire symphonic cycle.

Few new recordings of Beethoven's symphonies can sound ‘true,' but Joshua Bell's first recording as Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields is just that. Bell leads the esteemed London orchestra in Beethoven's Symphonies No. 4 and No. 7 from the concertmaster chair – leading the Academy into a new era as their first Music Director since it's founder, Sir Neville Marriner. In conjunction with this release, Mr Bell made himself available to Classical Radio for interviews. Outlets included: PRI/Classical 24: Nationally Syndicated
SiriusXM: Subscriber
KMZT: Los Angeles
WFMTChicago
WRTI: Philadelphia  
WRR: Dallas
KING: Seattle
WABE: Atlanta
WCLV: Cleveland
WQED: Pittsburgh
WRCJ: Detroit
XLNC: San Diego  
WUSF: Tampa
KPAC: San Antonio
KUAT: Tucson
WFIU: Bloomington Statewide Networks include:
Minnesota Public Radio
New Jersey Net
South Carolina Net
New Hampshire Public Radio: Statewide
Alabama Public Radio: Statewide

  Joshua Bell did not trade in his violin for a baton with last September's announcement as music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. As it turns out, the newly appointed Bell is only the 2nd ever named in the orchestra's history. Replacing Sir Neville Marriner who formed the chamber ensemble in 1958, Bell who plays and conducts from the concertmaster's chair has now completed his first recording with this most celebrated ensemble. Beethoven Symphonies No. 4 & 7. The conductorless ensemble has remained the guiding principle of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields' ‘The Washington Post' wrote: "This was as superb a Beethoven Fourth as I've heard, delivered by a conductor of tremendous promise and genuine ideas – who also happens to be one heck of a violinist." 

On JOSHUA BELL's new album, FRENCH IMPRESSIONS, Grammy-award-winning violinist Bell and his longtime friend and recital partner, pianist Jeremy Denk offer a passionately nuanced interpretation of works by Saint-Saens, Ravel and Franck. French Impressions boasts a number of milestones: it's Bell's first CD of sonatas since joining Sony Classical in 1996; it is Bell and Denk's first recital album together, and it's the first commercial recording made at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. The CD was produced by multiple Grammy-award-winner Steven Epstein. "French Impressions is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk, and I hope that with this recording we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us with over the years," says Bell." Each of the sonatas features romantic moments which traverse lyrical sweetness to urgent drama and reveal enchantingly complex and challenging layers of sound.

From the world of opera and song, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell has chosen some of the most popular and enduring melodies ever written for his latest Sony Classical recording Voice of the Violin. Following the success of his best-selling Romance of the Violin which has been a fixture on the Billboard Classical charts for over two years this all-new collection presents Bell and his Stradivarius giving fresh "voice" to works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Bizet, Dvoř?k, Donizetti, Massenet and more, accompanied by Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by Michael Stern. Opera's hottest new star, soprano Anna Netrebko, joins the violinist for a performance of the Richard Strauss song "Morgen." Voice of the Violin will be released worldwide on September 5, 2006. Bell's inspiration for Romance of the Violin one of the greatest successes in Bell's recording career was the opportunity to play beautiful classical melodies that violinists never get to perform. Voice of the Violin goes a step further, sampling the most memorable arias from opera and oratorio, as well as the classical song literature, for melodies that the violin in Bell's case, the legendary 1713 "Gibson ex Huberman" Stradivarius can "sing" most beautifully. The selections on Voice of the Violin include such favorites as Schubert's "Ave Maria," Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise" and Tchaikovsky's "None But the Lonely Heart," as well as beloved arias by Mozart ("Laudate dominum" from Vesperae Solenne di Confessore); Bizet ("Je crois entendre encore" from Les Pecheurs de perles); Donizetti ("Una furtiva lagrima" from L'Elisir d'amore); Dvorak ("Song of the Moon" from Rusalka) and Orff ("In trutina" from Carmina Burana). From the song literature in addition to Strauss's Morgen" come favorites by Faur ("Aprus un rave"), Debussy ("Beau soir"), Falla ("Nana"), Mendelssohn ("May Breezes" from Songs Without Words) and Ponce ("Estrellita"). A star of the Metropolitan Opera as well as leading opera houses and concert stages all over the world, Netrebko will join Bell in a performance of the soulful Strauss song "Morgen," in the famous orchestral transcription that features a violin solo. Pianist Frederic Chiu, a friend and frequent colleague of Bell's, accompanies the violinist in a performance of Debussy's "Beau soir." Arrangements for Voice of the Violin were created by J.A.C. Redford, the renowned American composer and orchestrator whose work in film and television has brought him a pair of Emmy nominations and five ASCAP Awards. His film credits include The Trip to Bountiful, Extremities and Oliver and Company. Redford has orchestrated, arranged or conducted for such Oscar-winning film composers as James Horner, Alan Menken and Rachel Portman. Two-time Grammy Award winner Grace Row is producing Voice of the Violin, and the recording is engineered by Charles Harbutt, also a two-time Grammy Award winner. Bell's most recent recording for Sony Classical is his critically acclaimed Tchaikovsky disc, featuring a live recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. He was also recently heard as soloist on the original soundtrack recordings of Ladies in Lavender and Dreamer: Inspired By A True Story. Following its original release in the fall of 2003, Romance of the Violin hit No. 1 on Billboard's Traditional Classical chart and stayed there for 12 weeks, remaining in the top 10 for 50 weeks in a row. In December of that year, Romance of the Violin was named No. 1 Classical Album of the Year by Billboard, as Bell was cited as No. 1 Classical Artist of the Year. Early in 2005, the recording became one of the first titles to be released by Sony Classical as a DualDisc, and the pace of its sales made it one of the top-selling recordings of 2005. A violinist of diverse musical interests and accomplishments, Joshua Bell is an exclusive Sony Classical artist. His critically acclaimed recordings for the label have ranged from core-classical works (concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Sibelius and Goldmark) to new concert works written especially for him by such composers Edgar Meyer and Nicholas Maw, whose Violin Concerto, performed by Bell, captured the Grammy for Best Solo Performance With Orchestra. His imaginative new recordings of music from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Bernstein's West Side Story have been best sellers, and he served as a soloist, advisor and creative partner in John Corigliano's Oscar-winning score for the hit film The Red Violin.