Joshua Bell

With a career spanning almost four decades, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. He has performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world and regularly appears as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and music director of London's Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF).

Bell continues to champion the rediscovered Violin Concerto by Thomas de Hartmann in the 2025-26 season, following his world premiere recording of the work. He gives its U.K. premiere at London's BBC Proms, its North American premiere with the New York Philharmonic, and its Canadian premiere during his season-long tenure as a Toronto Symphony Orchestra spotlight artist. Other highlights include tours with ASMF; his first appearances as principal guest conductor of the New Jersey Symphony; an Asian tour with Hamburg's NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra; and trio programs with Steven Isserlis and Evgeny Kissin in the U.S. and Europe.

In 2011, Bell succeeded founder Sir Neville Marriner as music director of ASMF. He is also the founder and music director of Chamber Orchestra of America.

Bell has commissioned and premiered works by John Corigliano, Edgar Meyer, and Nicholas Maw. His recording of Maw's Violin Concerto won a Grammy Award, and his work on the soundtrack for The Red Violin helped secure Corigliano's Academy Award.

Bell's collaborators include Emanuel Ax, Chris Botti, Renée Fleming, Josh Groban, Lang Lang, Sting, and Daniil Trifonov. His extensive discography has been recognized with Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Opus Klassik awards.

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell began playing the violin at age 4, starting studies with his mentor, Josef Gingold, eight years later. At 14, Bell debuted with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and at 17 he made his Carnegie Hall debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. He signed with London Decca at 18 and received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since then, Bell has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, named instrumentalist of the year by Musical America, selected as a young global leader by the World Economic Forum, and recognized with the Avery Fisher Prize. Bell has performed for three American presidents and the justices of the Supreme Court. After participating in former President Barack Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities' first cultural mission to Cuba, he headlined the subsequent Emmy-nominated PBS "Live from Lincoln Center" special.

Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin.