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JOSHUA BELL,
violin
Growing up in Bloomington, IN, Joshua Bell
became interested in the violin at age 4 and be-
gan studying under Josef Gingold at 12. He de-
buted as a soloist at age 14 with the Philadelphia
Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti, then
made his Carnegie Hall debut three years later.
Bell continued to study with Gingold at Indi-
ana University, where he earned an Artist Di-
ploma in 1989. His more recent honors include
receiving the Avery Fisher Prize in 2007, being
named
Musical America
’s Instrumentalist of the
Year in 2010, and serving on President Obama’s
Committee on the Arts and Humanities. In 2013
Bell was the featured soloist for the inaugural
world tour of the National Youth Orchestra of
the USA, and last year he participated in the
US Government’s inaugural cultural mission
to Cuba. This past spring he was artist-in-resi-
dence at the Kennedy Center with the National
Symphony Orchestra. Bell has appeared on over
40 recordings since his debut at age 18 and is
currently an exclusive artist with Sony Classical,
most recently releasing an all-Bruch disc featur-
ing his first recording of the
Scottish Fantasy
and
a new performance of the Violin Concerto No. 1
with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, of
which he has been music director since 2011. He
has also recorded albums of Bach, Beethoven,
and Brahms with the ensemble. Bell’s discog-
raphy also includes the 2001 Grammy-winning
performance of Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concer-
to with the London Philharmonic;
Romance of
the Violin
, which was named
Billboard
’s 2004
Classical Album of the Year and also earned
him the Classical Artist of the Year award; and
Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends
, fea-
turing collaborations with Chris Botti, Kristin
Chenoweth, Chick Corea, Gloria Estefan, Renée
Fleming, Plácido Domingo, Alison Krauss, and
others on classic holiday tunes. He has also ap-
peared on such film soundtracks as
Angels &
Demons
, on which he collaborated with com-
poser Hans Zimmer, and
The Red Violin
, which
won the 1999 Oscar for Best Original Score and
will be performed by Bell with the Chicago Phil-
harmonic live with the film at Ravinia on Au-
gust 21. Joshua Bell first performed at Ravinia in
1989 and returns tonight for his 14th season.
8:30 PM FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2018
PAVILION
ALAN CUMMING
Legal Immigrant
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JULY 9 – JULY 15, 2018
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