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Photo Credit: Timothy White
Joshua Bell
2002-2003 Season
Grammy® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell has been
captivating audiences around the globe for more than 20 years. Known for
his poetic musicality, Joshua first came to national attention at age
14 when he made his highly acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti
and the Philadelphia Orchestra. That performance, soon followed by his
Carnegie Hall debut and subsequent recording contract, created a sensation
that spread throughout the music world. Now in his thirties, Joshua has
performed with nearly every leading symphony orchestra and conductor,
recorded 26 albums and has earned the rare title of classical music superstar.
“Bell has evolved from a technical whiz to a true artist and intellectual
whose music feeds both your brain and your heart,” said Newsweek.
Joshua and his two sisters were raised on a farm in Bloomington, Indiana.
As a child Joshua indulged in many passions outside of music, becoming
an avid computer game player and a competitive athlete. He placed fourth
in a national tennis tournament at age 10 and still keeps his racquet
close by. Joshua received his first violin at age four after his parents,
both psychologists by profession, noticed him plucking tunes with rubber
bands he had stretched around the handles of his dresser drawers. By 12
he was serious about the instrument thanks in large part to the inspiration
of renowned violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold, who had become his
beloved teacher and mentor.
Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and now conductor, Joshua
Bell’s career is exceptionally varied. Joshua’s 2002-03 performance
season began with summer appearances at the Aspen, Verbier, Tanglewood,
Saratoga and Blossom festivals, as well as the Pacific Music Festival
in Japan and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London. North American
performances include a 13-city tour with the Academy of St. Martin in
the Fields under his own direction and concerts with the Orchestra of
St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, the San Francisco Symphony, and the
Toronto Symphony, as well as a recital tour with pianist Simon Mulligan.
European highlights consist of performances at the Musikverein in Vienna
with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman, a Scandinavian tour with
the Stockholm Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert, as well as concerts with
the Philharmonia Orchestra under Valery Gergiev and the Santa Cecilia
Orchestra in Rome.
At the age of 18, Joshua signed his first recording contract with London/Decca
for whom he went on to record much of the classical violin repertoire.
Searching to expand his musical horizons, he joined Sony Classical in
1996, a relationship that has yielded a diverse collection of albums.
His most recent releases are the Mendelssohn & Beethoven violin concertos
with Camerata Salzburg conducted by Sir Roger Norrington (featuring Bell’s
original cadenzas), and the Iris motion picture soundtrack composed by
James Horner. In 2002, his Grammy-winning recording of West Side Story
Suite, based on Leonard Bernstein’s works, was spotlighted by a performance
on the 44th Annual Grammy Awards telecast. The same music was featured
on the 2001 PBS Great Performances special, “Joshua Bell: West Side
Story Suite from Central Park,” which received an Emmy® nomination
for Best Classical Music-Dance Program. In 2001, Joshua received the Grammy
Award and a Mercury Music Prize for the Nicolas Maw Violin Concerto. Written
expressly for Joshua, the concerto featured Sir Roger Norrington conducting
the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Joshua’s recording of the Sibelius
& Goldmark violin concertos with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the
Los Angeles Philharmonic captured the Echo Klassik Award for Best Concerto
Recording. Joshua also received a Grammy nomination for Gershwin Fantasy
— derived from Porgy and Bess — featuring John Williams as conductor
and pianist.
Eager to further blur the lines between musical genres, Joshua hooked
up in 1998 with longtime friend, bassist and composer Edgar Meyer. Together
they organized a quartet with legendary bluegrass musicians Sam Bush and
Mike Marshall. This resulted in the Grammy Award-nominated Short Trip
Home, which they performed on the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards telecast.
Other ‘crossover’ projects include collaborations with Wynton
Marsalis on Listen to the Storyteller, a spoken word children’s album,
and with Bèla Fleck on Perpetual Motion. Both albums received Grammy
awards.
Joshua’s most mainstream effort yielded the ultimate accolade during
the 72nd Academy Awards® telecast. Following his three-year involvement
with the film “The Red Violin,” where he was responsible for
all violin sound for the movie and soundtrack recording composed by John
Corigliano, the album captured the Oscar® for Best Original Score.
Before a worldwide television audience, a jubilant Corigliano proclaimed
in his acceptance speech, “Joshua plays like a god.”
A chamber music enthusiast, Joshua initiated an annual series of chamber
music concerts at London’s Wigmore Hall in 1997 that was so successful,
he was invited by the Auditorium du Louvre to bring the series to Paris.
He enjoys chamber music collaborations with artists such as Pamela Frank,
Steven Isserlis, Edgar Meyer and Yefim Bronfman as well as occasional
collaborations with artists outside the classical arena including Bobby
McFerrin, Chick Corea and James Taylor.
Joshua has been enthusiastically embraced by the media. In addition to
his appearance as co-host (with Whoopi Goldberg and John Lithgow) of the
Trio Arts Cable series “Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s
Concerts with the New York Philharmonic,” his PBS “Great Performances”
special, “Joshua Bell: West Side Story Suite from Central Park,”
and his recent participation in the Korbel Celebration of Olympic Champions
which aired on NBC, Joshua has appeared on many programs over the years.
These include “The Tonight Show,” “Nightline,” “Charlie
Rose,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” “CBS
This Morning,” A&E’s “Biography,” and the PBS
programs “Evening at Pops” and “Live from Lincoln Center”.
He was one of the first classical musicians to be the focus of a music
video, which has been broadcast on the VH1, A&E and Bravo television
networks. Joshua was the subject of the 1995 documentary film presented
on BBC’s “Omnibus,” and later broadcast on Bravo. He has
been featured on National Public Radio and profiled in publications including
People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People issue, The New York Times,
Esquire, Newsweek, New York, Vogue, Travel & Leisure, Gramophone,
Classic CD, Pulse, Strad and Strings. Elle Magazine stated that Joshua
“is the most celebrated American-born violinist of the modern era.”
Joshua holds an Artist Diploma from Indiana University. In 1998, he began
teaching a series of master classes at London’s Royal Academy of
Music and he has served as Adjunct Professor at The Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Media Lab, helping to develop a new generation of high tech
instruments and toys.
A New York City resident, when Joshua is not busy playing sports, video
games or maintaining his website, (www.joshuabell.com) he can be found
with his Antonio Stradivarius violin dated 1713 known as the “Gibson
ex Huberman.”
IMG Artists
825 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10019
Tel. (212) 489-8300
Fax (212) 246-1596
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