Biography
With a career spanning more than thirty years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, conductor and director, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. Having performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, Bell continues to maintain engagements as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician.
Since 2011, Bell serves as Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, succeeding Sir Neville Marriner, who formed the orchestra and gave their first public performance in 1959. The 2019-20 season commemorates the Academy’s 60th anniversary with a gala concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Bell’s multifaceted interests range from performing the repertoire’s hallmarks to recording commissioned works, including Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concerto, for which Bell received a GRAMMY® award. He has also premiered works of John Corigliano, Edgar Meyer, and Behzad Ranjbaran.
Committed to innovative ways of expanding classical music’s social and cultural impact, Bell has collaborated with various artists and organizations across a multitude of genres. He has partnered with peers including Renée Fleming, Chick Corea, Regina Spektor, Wynton Marsalis, Chris Botti, Anoushka Shankar, Frankie Moreno, Josh Groban, and Sting, among others. In Spring 2019, Bell joined his longtime friends and musical partners, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk, for a ten-city American trio tour; the trio recorded Mendelssohn’s piano trios at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, slated for release in early 2020. Following Bell’s second collaboration with the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and Maestro Tsung Yeh in 2018, a fall 2020 album release features Bell as soloist alongside traditional Chinese instruments in Western repertoire and the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, one of the most renowned violin works in Chinese cultural heritage.
Recent News
Joshua Bell extends his contract as Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ Music Director until 2023
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is delighted to announce that Music Director Joshua Bell’s contract has been extended until 2023. The news comes at the start of the Academy’s 60th anniversary season and was announced at a Gala concert, on 12 November, at...
Joshua Bell Renews Contract as Music Director of Academy of St Martin in the Fields for a Further Three Seasons
IMG Artists is delighted to announce that Joshua Bell has renewed his contract as Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for a further three seasons from 2017/18. One of the world’s most celebrated violinists and a renowned figure on the...
Reviews
“Mr. Bell doesn’t stand in anyone’s shadow.”
“Joshua Bell is the greatest American violinist active today.”
More Reviews
“Most perfect interpreter of this generation.”
Houston Chronicle
“Joshua Bell will be the one remembered in 50 years’ time.”
The Strad
“The presence of Mr. Bell, one of the world’s most popular classical musicians and a virtuoso refreshingly traditional in his preference for a sweet, singing tone and tasteful vibrato in Mozart, surely accounted for the boisterous crowd that attended the sold-out evening concert.”
The New York Times
“The American violinist with movie-star good looks has emerged as one of the finest musicians of his generation, whose interpretations can be seriously set beside and favorably compared to players twice his age. Dead players too. “
The Washington Post
“Bell’s big sound is consistently beautiful, round, focused and unfailingly in tune, and he lavishes it in equal measure on all the music he plays.”
Gallery
Contact
Alexander Monsey - European Management
amonsey@imgartists.com
+44 (0) 20 7957 5851
Jessica Efezeybek - Managerial Associate
jessicae@imgartists.com
+44 (0)20 7957 5871
Agnieszka Mikus - Artist Manager
amikus@imgartists.com
+44 (0) 20 7957 5848