Bell, Joshua

▪ 2008

born Dec. 9, 1967, Bloomington, Ind.

      In a crowd of youthful professional violinists, American Joshua Bell stood out in 2007. A technically accomplished and versatile musician with wide-ranging interests in classical and popular music, he was also an audience favourite for his matinee-idol good looks and his accessibility. His influence beyond the musical world was recognized when on January 16 he became the only American musician among the 250 Young Global Leaders named by the World Economic Forum.

      Bell received his first violin at age four from his parents after they found that he was making music by stretching rubber bands to different lengths on dresser drawers. He led a relatively normal childhood that included sports (he was an elite tennis player) and computer games. His violin studies became serious when at age 12 he attended the Meadowmount music camp in Westport, N.Y., where he met renowned teacher Josef Gingold of Indiana University, who later became his mentor. Bell made his orchestral debut at age 14 with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra—becoming the orchestra's youngest-ever soloist—and he made his first recording at age 18. In appearances as a soloist, with small groups and orchestras, and as conductor, Bell began to reap top honours. He received a Grammy Award for his performance in the first recording of Nicholas Maw's Violin Concerto (2000)—which was written for him—and his album Romance of the Violin won Billboard's 2004 Classical Album of the Year.

      In 2007 Bell was clearly at the peak of his form and the prime of his powers. On April 10 he received the rarely given Avery Fisher Prize. Also in the spring he was on tour in Europe as conductor and soloist with the orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He accepted a post in May as senior lecturer at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In October with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Carnegie Hall, he premiered the Violin Concerto written for him by 15-year-old Jay Greenberg, and at year's end Bell was the guest soloist at the annual New Year's Eve gala concert at Lincoln Center, New York City, with Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic. His 2007 recordings included the two-CD album The Essential Joshua Bell and (with pianist Jeremy Denk and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop (Alsop, Marin ) [q.v.]) The Red Violin Concerto, a concert version of the Academy Award-winning music composed by John Corigliano for the film The Red Violin (1998).

      Bell's violin was perhaps as well known as he was. He played the magnificent 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius, which he purchased (for nearly $4 million) in October 2001, having sold a “lesser” Stradivarius (the 1732 Tom Taylor). Despite owning one of the finest violins ever made, Bell worked with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab to develop new, high-tech stringed instruments.

Charles Trumbull

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