Joshua Bell Performs Bernstein’s Serenade

With an illustrious career spanning over 30 years, violinist Joshua Bell performs Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade this fall for the New York Philharmonic.

• Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 7:30 p.m.
• Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m.

Check out Joshua Bell rehearsing the piece in Istanbul:

Violinist Joshua Bell kicks off the New York Philharmonic’s Bernstein festival with Bernstein’s Serenade conducted by Alan Gilbert. Inspired by Plato’s “Symposium,” the guests (represented by strings and percussion) at this dinner party engage discuss the charm, humor, and joy of love. Rounding out the evening, Alan Gilbert conducts Bernstein’s “Jeremiah“ Symphony.

 

 

 

Joshua Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, on 9 December 1967. He began taking violin lessons at the age of four after his mother discovered that he had stretched rubber bands across the handles of his dresser drawer to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano.

An exclusive recording artist for Sony Classical, Joshua Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs since his first LP was made at the age of 18 on the Decca label.

Bell has won numerous awards including a Gramophone Award in 1998 for his recording of the Barber and Walton violin concertos. He is pictured here performing during the Classical BRIT Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in 2007.

 

Joshua Bell’s instrument is a 300-year old Stradivarius violin called the ‘Gibson ex Huberman’, which was made in 1713 during what is known as Stradivari’s Golden Era. The violin had been stolen twice from the previous owner, Bronisław Huberman; the final time the thief confessed to the act on his deathbed.

Joshua Bell shakes hands with the U.S.A.’s First Lady Michelle Obama after performing at a classical music student workshop concert on 4 November 2009 in the East Room of the White House. The event was part of a series created by Mrs. Obama to highlight the importance of the arts and arts education.

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

On May 26, 2011, Bell was named Music Director of the British music ensemble, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He is the first and only other person to hold this post after the great conductor Sir Neville Marriner who founded the orchestra in 1958.