Joshua Bell
oshua Bell has enchanted audiences worldwide with his breathtaking virtuosity and tone of
rare beauty. An Avery Fisher Prize recipient and Musical America's 2010
Instrumentalist of the Year, Mr. Bell was recently appointed music director of the Academy
of St. Martin in the Fields. Mr. Bell came to national attention at age 14 in his debut
with Riccardo Muti and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Today, he is equally at home as a
soloist, chamber musician, orchestra leader, and composer who performs his own cadenzas in
several major concertos.
Mr. Bell's festival appearances in 2011 include Ravinia, Tanglewood, Verbier, and Mostly
Mozart. Additional engagements include performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the San Francisco and Colorado symphonies, and the
Dallas, Atlanta, and National symphony orchestras; an appearance with the New York
Philharmonic; and a European tour. In 2012, he tours the US in recital and with the Academy
of St. Martin in the Fields, and tours Europe with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and
Vladimir Jurowski and in recital with Jeremy Denk.
Since making his first LP recording at 18, Mr. Bell has recorded more than 36 CDs, winning
Mercury, Grammy, Gramophone, and ECHO Klassik awards. He has made critically
acclaimed recordings of works by Sibelius and Goldmark; the Beethoven and Mendelssohn
concertos, both featuring his own cadenzas; and the Oscar-winning soundtrack to the film
The Red Violin. Recent releases include At Home with Friends, the
Defiance soundtrack, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, and the Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, his
new album of French sonatas with Jeremy Denk, French Impressions, will be released
in January 2012.
Mr. Bell received his first violin at age four, and by age 12 was serious about the
instrument, thanks to violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold. He performs on the 1713 Gibson
ex Huberman Stradivarius.