MN Beethoven Festival: Joshua Bell & Academy of St Martin in the Fields

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About

Joshua Bell

With a career spanning almost four decades, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated artists of his era. Bell has performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world and continues to maintain engagements as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and as the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Bell’s highlights for the 2024-25 season included the release of two new albums: Thomas De Hartmann Rediscovered, which features the World Premiere recording of Ukrainian composer Thomas De Hartmann’s Violin Concerto, with conductor Dalia Stasevska and the INSO-Lviv Orchestra, released August 16, 2024, on Pentatone, as well as an album of Mendelssohn piano trios, which Bell recorded with longtime friends and collaborators Jeremy Denk and Steven Isserlis, out August 30, 2024, on Sony Masterworks. Bell rejoined Denk and Isserlis in November 2024 for a series of Fauré chamber concerts at Wigmore Hall. An avid recitalist, Bell toured internationally to South America, Australia, and mainland China, and performed his beloved “Voice and the Violin” program with soprano Larisa Martínez throughout North America. As guest soloist, Bell appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, as well as conducted and played with the DSO Berlin.

In 2011, Bell was named Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, succeeding Sir Neville Marriner, who formed the orchestra in 1959. Bell has since led the orchestra on several tours and albums, most recently Bruch: Scottish Fantasy, which was nominated for a 2019 Grammy Award. In April 2024, the ASMF announced the extension of Bell’s Music Director contract through the 2027/28 season.

Bell has commissioned and premiered new works by John Corigliano, Edgar Meyer, Behzad Ranjbaran, and Nicholas Maw – his recording of Maw’s Violin Concerto received a Grammy award. In 2023/24, Bell introduced his newly commissioned concerto project, The Elements, a suite featuring movements by five renowned living composers: Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Edgar Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, and Kevin Puts.

Bell has collaborated with peers including Renée Fleming, Daniil Trifonov, Emanuel Ax, Lang Lang, Chick Corea, Regina Spektor, Chris Botti, Anoushka Shankar, Dave Matthews, Josh Groban, and Sting, among others.

As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums, garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and OPUS KLASSIK awards. In 1998, Bell worked with composer John Corigliano on the film soundtrack for The Red Violin, which elevated Bell to a household name and garnered Corigliano an Academy Award. Since then, Bell has appeared on several other film soundtracks, including Ladies in Lavender (2004) and Defiance (2008).

A strong advocate for accessible music education, Bell has received the 2022 Paez Medal of Art, bestowed by the Venezuelan American Endowment for the Arts, and the 2019 Glashütte Original Music Festival Award, presented in conjunction with the Dresden Music Festival. In 2021, Bell announced his new partnership with Trala, the tech-powered violin learning app. Bell maintains additional active involvement with Education Through Music and Turnaround Arts. Joshua Bell’s Virtual Violin, the result of an ongoing partnership with leading virtual instrument sampling company Embertone, is widely considered the best virtual instrument of its kind.

Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin. Learn More About Joshua Bell

Academy of St Martin in the Fields

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is one of the world’s finest orchestras, renowned for fresh, brilliant interpretations of the world’s greatest orchestral music.

Founded in 1958 by Sir Neville Marriner, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields has evolved into a musical powerhouse, an orchestra renowned across the world for its commitment to the musical freedom of its players and the sharing of joyful, inspiring performances.

Today, with Music Director Joshua Bell, ASMF’s player-led approach empowers every member of the orchestra. This creates a direct line and electrifying connection between the orchestra and its audiences, resulting in ambitious and collaborative performances that transcend the more traditional conductor-led model.

Learn More About Academy of St Martin in the Fields