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Biography
Read Joshua's
journey before he became one of successful artist.
Grammy Award-winning
violinist Joshua Bell kicks off the 2005-06 season with a new
honor - he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in
June - and the September release of his latest Sony Classical
recording, featuring a live performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin
Concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the Berlin
Philharmonic. An exclusive Sony Classical artist who has created a
large and richly varied catalogue of recordings, Bell swept
Billboard Magazine's 2004 honors as "Classical Artist of the Year"
with the "Classical Album of the Year" - the best-selling Romance
of the Violin, a collection of classical favorites that is
currently in its second year near the top of the Billboard
Classical charts. The recording has also been released as a
DualDisc, featuring video excerpts from Bell's live concert
broadcast from Lincoln Center's Stanley Kaplan Penthouse for the
PBS series Live From Lincoln Center.
Bell's 2005-2006 performance season in North America includes
concerts with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's
at Carnegie Hall, and the Boston, Chicago and San Francisco
Symphony Orchestras, as well as a national recital tour with
pianist Jeremy Denk. He will also continue his Artistic
Partnership Series with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra as guest
soloist/leader.
International highlights of Bell's upcoming season will include a
tour of China with Sir Roger Norrington and the Stuttgart Radio
Symphony Orchestra, a tour of Israel with Herbert Blomstedt and
the Israel Philharmonic, a European recital tour with pianist
Zoltan Kocsis, and concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic, as well as
a recital and chamber music performance at the Wigmore Hall.
For over two decades, Joshua Bell has been captivating audiences
worldwide with his poetic musicality. He came to national
attention at the age of 14 in a highly acclaimed orchestral debut
with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A Carnegie Hall
debut, the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and a recording
contract further confirmed his unique presence in the music world.
Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra
leader, Bell's career is exceptionally varied. Now in his
thirties, he continues to perform regularly with the world's
leading symphony orchestras and conductors. At the same time, his
restless curiosity and multifaceted musical interests have taken
him in exciting new directions, forging a unique career that has
earned him the rare title of classical music superstar. In
addition to his concert career, Bell enjoys chamber music
collaborations with artists such as Pamela Frank, Steven Isserlis
and Edgar Meyer as well as occasional collaborations with artists
outside the classical arena including Josh Groban, Bobby McFerrin,
Chick Corea and James Taylor.
"Bell," Gramophone stated simply, "is dazzling."
Joshua Bell made his first recording at the age of 18, and he
already had an extensive catalogue of classical recordings when
joined the Sony Classical roster in 1996, hoping to expand his
horizons as a recording artist. The result has been a distinctive
and wide-ranging body of work that, to date, has yielded three
Grammy Awards - for his recording of Nicholas Maw's Violin
Concerto, which was written for him; for his West Side Story Suite
recording; and for his performances on banjo virtuoso Bˇla Fleck's
crossover classical recording Perpetual Motion.
Among Bell's most recent recordings for Sony Classical are
performances on two film soundtracks, the Classical Brit-nominated
Ladies in Lavender and the Fall 2005 release Dreamer: Inspired By
A True Story. For three years, he was deeply involved in the
creation of John Corigliano's Academy Award-winning score for the
1999 film The Red Violin, performing the virtuosic solos on the
soundtrack and serving as an advisor and even a stand-in in the
film. In his Oscar acceptance speech, a jubilant Corigliano
proclaimed, "Joshua plays like a god." Bell also gave the world
premiere of Corigliano's The Red ViolinŃChaconne for Violin and
Orchestra, a concert work drawn from the film score which is also
included on the Sony Classical original soundtrack recording. In
2001, Bell also performed on the soundtrack of the Academy
Award-winning film Iris, in an original score by James Horner.
From the classical repertoire, Bell has made critically acclaimed
recordings for Sony Classical of the concertos of Beethoven and
Mendelssohn (both featuring his own cadenzas), and Sibelius and
Goldmark, as well as the Nicholas Maw concerto. His
Grammy-nominated recording Gershwin Fantasy premiered a new work
for violin and orchestra based on themes from Gershwin's Porgy and
Bess. Its success led to an all-Bernstein recording (also a Grammy
nominee) that included the premiere of the West Side Story Suite
as well as a new recording of the composer's Serenade. With the
composer and double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer, Bell appears on the
Grammy-nominated crossover recording Short Trip Home and a disc of
concert works by Meyer and the 19th-century composer Giovanni
Bottesini. Bell also collaborated with Wynton Marsalis on the
Grammy-winning spoken word children's album, Listen to the
Storyteller. He has twice performed on the Grammy Awards telecast
in recent years, performing music from Short Trip Home and West
Side Story Suite.
In addition to Grammy Awards, Bell has won the Mercury Music Prize
for the Maw concerto recording with Sir Roger Norrington and the
London Philharmonic Orchestra, and Germany's Echo Klassik for
Sibelius/Goldmark concerto recording with Esa-Pekka Salonen and
the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Bell appeared as himself in the film Music of the Heart starring
Meryl Streep, and millions of people are just as likely to see him
on Late Night With Conan O'Brien as on the PBS programs Great
PerformancesŃJoshua Bell: West Side Story Suite from Central Park,
Joshua Bell at the PenthouseŃLive From Lincoln Center, Memorial
Day Concert, Sesame Street or A&E's Biography. He was one of the
first classical artists to have a music video air on VH1, and he
has been the subject of a BBC Omnibus documentary. Bell has been
profiled in publications ranging from Newsweek to People
Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People issue, Gramophone and The New
York Times, which stated, "No one stands in Mr. Bell's shadow."
Bell and his two sisters grew up on a farm in Bloomington,
Indiana. As a child, he indulged in many passions outside of
music, becoming an avid computer game player and a competitive
athlete. He placed fourth in a national tennis tournament at age
10 and still keeps his racquet close by. Bell 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.
In 1989, Bell received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance
from Indiana University. His alma mater also honored him with a
Distinguished Alumni Service Award only two years after his
graduation. He has been named an "Indiana Living Legend" and
received the Indiana Governor's Arts Award.
Bell has taught 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. He currently serves
on the Artist Committee of the Kennedy Center Honors.
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