Battling Joshua Bell
Yesterday, I attended the Joshua Bell recital at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. The most extraordinary living violinist, it also bears noting that Bell won the Crystal Caliburn World Championship in 1996. Yes, he is a pinball wizard. And he placed 4th in the National Tennis something or other as a teenager. Bell defines over achievement.
Joshua Bell is also a very mean man. Listening to him play the violin is a struggle and occasionally, a war. From the moment I seated myself, I felt as though I were about to engage in the Battle of the Hornburg, except the elves never show and Legolas wanders off somewhere. Bell is the antagonist, his violin the army, each note an arrow, a ladder, a spear. And there are 10,000 of him and 1 of me. I am no Aragorn. Instead, I am that little long-haired boy that has seen too few winters and doesn’t know how to wield a sword.
It might seem strange to refer to a Joshua Bell concert as a battle, but his violin is truly cruel. It will thrash you upside one movement and down the other. Throughout the duration of the recital, my body was tense, my palms sweaty, my neck stiff, and I had trouble breathing. Every angling of his wrist to lay the bow against the strings and every note that rang thereafter was an exquisite torment.
Yesterday, I passed 3 hours of my life in the most confusing state of anxiety and ecstasy. I could not release my body from the tension. I could not will myself to breathe with any sort of regularity. I could not stop my eyes from watering, and above all else, I could not help but mourn that it would be over. I would regain my agency, my breathing routine, my posture, my muscle control, my sanity. Being in front of Joshua Bell was like staring at the sun. Nothing could be more bewitching, more beautiful. Yet nothing would more certainly harm you. And then the recital ended. And even though I could breathe again, I felt utterly empty. And I yearned for the battle once more, yearned to stare at the sun and go blind.
...Stop and Hear the Music
Will one of the nation's greatest musicians be noticed in a D.C. Metro stop during rush hour? Violinist Joshua Bell experimented for Gene Weingarten's Sunday Magazine story in The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/... Video by John W. Poole
Joshua Bell News

Joshua Bell Performs With LA Philharmonic HULIQ (press release), NC - Superstar violinist Joshua Bell returns to the Hollywood Bowl stage to perform two beloved French works – Chausson’s Poeme and Saint-Saens’ Introduction and |
Napa Resident Booked On DUI Charges In Calaveras County MyMotherLode.com, CA - San Andreas, CA -- 33 year old Joshua M. Bell of Napa was arrested and booked into the Calaveras County Jail shortly after Saturday midnight on a charge of |
Bell joining Minnesota Orchestra on tour Pioneer Press, MN - Superstar violinist Joshua Bell will join the Minnesota Orchestra for a two-week, eight-city tour of Europe in February and March. |
education notes Kentucky.com, KY - Franklin: Hannah Ruth Hinson, Zachary Thomas King, Brenden James Sullivan, Anna Rowe Dennis, MeNore Gashaw Lake, Katherine Jean Moore, Joshua Eli Bell, |
Classical Los Angeles Times, CA - Los Angeles Philharmonic: Joshua Bell à la Française Bramwell Tovey conducts the orchestra in Berlioz's "Hungarian March from 'La Damnation de Faust,' |
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Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell has been captivating audiences around ... Kennedy Center: Biographical information for Joshua Bell ...
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Joshua Bell Born December 09, 1967 in Bloomington, IN Country: USA Biography Joshua Bell, one of the top young violinists of our time, was born in
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Music Department: Violon rouge, Le. Born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1967, Joshua Bell began playing the violin... Visit IMDb for Photos, Filmography, Discussions, ...
OPO Bio - Joshua Bell
For over two decades, Joshua Bell has been captivating audiences worldwide with ... Joshua Bell made his first recording at the age of 18, and he has an extensive ...
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