Achmad Kevin Ihza: Joshua Bell bio

wikipedia.org

Optimised 1 hour agoView original Refresh

Joshua Bell

American violinist

For other people named Joshua Bell, see Joshua Bell (disambiguation).

Joshua Bell

Bell after a performance with the San Francisco Symphony, California, October 24, 2010

BornDecember 9, 1967 (age 49)
Bloomington, IndianaEducationIndiana UniversityOccupationMusicianYears active1980s–presentWebsitejoshuabell.com

Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor.

Childhood

Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. His mother, Shirley, was a therapist. His father, Alan P. Bell, was a psychologist, Professor Emeritus of Indiana University, in Bloomington, and a formerKinsey researcher.^[1]^[2] His father is of Scottish descent, and his mother is Jewish(his maternal grandfather was born in Israel and his maternal grandmother was from Minsk). Bell told The Jewish Journal, "I identify myself as being Jewish".^[1]^[3]^[4]

Bell began taking violin lessons at the age of four after his mother discovered that her son had taken rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of his nine dresser drawers to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano. His parents got a scaled-to-size violin for their then five-year-old son and started giving him lessons. A bright student, Bell took to the instrument but lived an otherwise normal midwest Indiana life playing video games and excelling at sports, namely tennis and bowling, even placing in a national tennis tournament at the age of ten.^[5]

Bell studied as a child first under Donna Bricht, widow of Indiana University music faculty member Walter Bricht.^[6] His second teacher was Mimi Zweig, and then he switched to the violinist and pedagogueJosef Gingold after Bell's parents assured Gingold that they were not interested in pushing their son in the study of the violin but simply wanted him to have the best teacher for his abilities. Satisfied that the boy was living a normal life, Gingold took Bell on as his student. By age 12, Bell was serious about the instrument, thanks in large part to Gingold's inspiration.

At the age of 14, Bell appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti. He studied the violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Musicand graduated from Bloomington High School North in 1984.^[7] 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.

Career

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 – 4. Finale: Allegro assai appassionato

Play media

Bell, Awadagin Pratt, and Alisa Weilersteinperform Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1at the White House Evening of Classical Music on November 4, 2009.

Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 – 4. Finale: Allegro assai appassionato

Audio only version

Cantabile (Paganini)

Play media

Bell and Sharon Isbin perform Niccolò Paganini's Cantabile at the White HouseEvening of Classical Music on November 4, 2009.

Cantabile (Paganini)

Audio only version

Problems playing these files? See media help.

Bell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985, at age 17, with the St. Louis Symphony. He has since performed with many of the world's major orchestras and conductors. As well as the standard concerto repertoire, Bell has performed new works. Nicholas Maw's violin concerto is dedicated to Bell, who premiered it in 1993 and won a Grammy Award for his recording of the piece. He performed the solo part on John Corigliano's Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film The Red Violin and was also featured in Ladies in Lavender. Bell made an appearance in the movie Music of the Heart, a story about the power of music, with other notable violinists.

Bell's instrument is a 300-year-oldStradivarius violin called the Gibson ex Huberman, which was made in 1713 during what is known as Antonio Stradivari's "Golden Era." This violin had been stolen twice from the previous owner, Bronisław Huberman; the last time the thief confessed to the act on his deathbed.^[8] Bell had held and played the violin, and its owner at the time, violinist Norbert Brainin, jokingly told Bell that the violin could be his for four million dollars. Shortly thereafter, by chance, Bell came across the violin again and discovered it was about to be sold to a German industrialist to become part of a collection. According to Bell's website, Bell "was practically in tears."^[9]^[^{full citation needed}^]Bell then sold his previous violin, the Tom Taylor Stradivarius,^[10] for a little more than two million dollars and made the purchase of the Gibson ex Huberman for a little under the four million dollar asking price. As with his previous Stradivarius violin, Bell entrusts the upkeep of the Gibson ex Huberman to expert luthier Emmanuel Gradoux-Matt.^[^{citation needed}^] The story of the theft, return, and subsequent acquisition by Bell is told in the 2013 documentary The Return of the Violin, directed by Haim Hecht. Bell's first recording made with the Gibson ex Huberman was Romance of the Violin (forSony Classical Records) in 2003.

Bell is an artistic partner for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (starting in the 2004–2005 season) and a visiting professor at theRoyal Academy of Music in London. He also serves on the artists' selection committee for the Kennedy Center Honors and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.^[11]

Bell was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize on April 10, 2007, at Lincoln Center in New York City. The prize is given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement.^[12] On May 3, 2007, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Musicannounced that Bell had joined the faculty as a senior lecturer.^[13]^[14]

Bell collaborated with film composer Hans Zimmer by providing violin solos for thesoundtrack of the 2009 film Angels & Demons, based on Dan Brown's 2000 novel of the same name.

On May 26, 2011, Bell was named Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.^[15]^[16]

In 2013, Bell performed the song "Before My Time", alongside Scarlett Johansson. Written by J. Ralph for the documentary Chasing Ice, the song received a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Original Song.^[17]

In 2014, 2015, and 2016, Bell played as himself in three episodes of Mozart in the Jungle: the pilot episode, Touché Maestro, Touché, and Creative Solutions for Creative Lives.^[18]

In 2016, Joshua played a cameo role on the penultimate musical episode of Royal Pains.^[19]

Washington Postexperiment

In an experiment initiated by The Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, Bell donned a baseball cap and played as an incognito busker at the Metro subway station L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 2007. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; of the 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him).^[8] Three days before, he earned considerably more playing the same repertoire at a concert. Weingarten won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his article on the experiment.^[20]^[21] The Washington Post posted the video on YouTube^[22] and a feature-length documentary, Find Your Way: A Busker's Documentary, chronicled Bell's experience.^[23]

Personal life

Bell resides in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York. He has three sisters.^[24] A son, Josef, was born to Bell and Lisa Matricardi, a former girlfriend, in 2007.^[25]^[26] Twin sons were born to them in 2010.^[27]

Selected discography

YearAlbumBillboardClassicalBillboard2001988Bruch MendelssohnViolin Concertos, London Records——1989Fauré DebussyFranck Violin Sonatas withJean-Yves Thibaudet, Decca Records——1990Presenting Joshua Bell, Polygram Records——1991ChaussonConcerto, RavelPiano Trio, London Records——1992Saint-Saëns:Violin Concerto No. 3 /Chausson:Poeme, London Records——1995Prokofiev: Violin Concertos & Sonatas, London Records——1995Brahms /SchumannViolin Concertos, London Records——1996The KreislerAlbum, London Records——1997Barber /Walton/ BlochViolin Concertos, Decca Records——1997ShostakovichPiano Trio No. 2, London Records——1999Maw Violin Concertos, Sony Classical——1999GershwinFantasy, Sony Classical——2000Sibelius &Goldmark: Violin Concertos, Sony Classical——2000Short Trip Home, withEdgar Meyer,Sam Bush,Mike Marshall, Sony Classical7—2001Bernstein West Side StorySuite, Sony Classical3—2002Beethoven &Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos, Sony Classical18—2004Romance of the Violin, Sony Classical11762005Tchaikovsky:Violin Concerto, Op. 35; Melodie; Danse Russe fromSwan Lake (Act III), Sony Classical2—2006Voice of the Violin, Sony1—2007Corigliano The Red Violin, Sony1—2007The Essential Joshua Bell, Sony BMG Masterworks19—2008Vivaldi: The Four Seasons,Sony BMG Masterworks11342009Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mozart Violin Concertos (reissues), Decca9—2009The Best of Joshua Bell, Sony Masterworks12—2009At Home with Friends, Sony Masterworks
with Chris Botti, Kristin Chenoweth,Regina Spektor, andSting11182012French Impressions, Sony Masterworks11392013Beethoven: Symphonies Nos.4 &7, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sony Masterworks1—2014Bach, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sony Classical——

Soundtrack albums

Chasing Ice Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2012The Flowers of War Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2012: Joshua Bell, solo violinAngels & Demons Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2009Defiance Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2008Ladies in Lavender Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2005: Joshua Bell, solo violinIris Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 2001: Joshua Bell, solo violinThe Red Violin, Joshua Bell, solo Violin