With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, conductor, and music education advocate, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists today. A Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards. 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.

Fall 2018 performances include the season-openings of the National Symphony Orchestra with Gianandrea Noseda and Cincinnati Symphony with Louis Langrée, performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden, Baltimore Symphony with Cristian Măcelaru, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, and Stockholm Philharmonic. A highlight is the live film concert with the New York Philharmonic of the Academy Award-winning film score for The Red Violin in commemoration of the film’s 20th anniversary.

In Spring 2019, Bell tours worldwide with the Academy and his North American and European recital tours with pianist Sam Haywood. Another highlight will be a first-ever tour with friends pianist Jeremy Denk and cellist Steven Isserlis to 10 cities in North America, including New York. He also appears with the Czech Philharmonic under Christoph Eschenbach, Israel Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda, Camerata Salzburg with Andrew Manze, Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck, the Munich Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony – including The Man with the Violin children’s film concert – and a play/conduct with the Houston Symphony.

Bell’s recording with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields of Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and G Minor Concerto was released in June 2018. Previous CDs include an album featuring Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concerto, for which Bell received a Grammy® award.

Convinced of the value of music as a diplomatic and educational tool, Bell participated in President Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities’ first cultural mission to Cuba. He is also involved in Turnaround Arts, another project implemented by the Committee and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which provides arts education to low-performing elementary and middle schools.

Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin.

(more on Joshua Bell’s Website…)

(Program Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco)