Joshua Bell

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.

...

Read more...

Stop and Hear the Music

greatest musicians be noticed in a DC Metro stop during rush hour? Violinist Joshua Bell experimented for Gene Weingarten's Sunday Magazine ...

Find Joshua Bell Tickets


Get Great Tickets on StubHub.com!

Joshua Bell News




Mr. Spock as well as Joshua Bell: Carpenter Performing Arts Center offers an
Los Angeles Times (blog)
The center will present four subscription series and nine special events, including its first classical-music concert, which will feature violinist Joshua


Joshua Bell to perform April benefit concert in IU's Musical Arts Center
Indiana University
"I am thrilled that Joshua Bell is presenting this concert and hope that others will step forward to help ensure that the children in Bloomington have
Joshua Bell to perform benefit recital April 13Indiana Daily Student
Violinist Joshua Bell to play benefit concert for children's strings program Fox 59
Joshua Bell to perform MCCSC benefit concert at IUThe Herald-Times (subscription)

all 9 news articles »


Philharmonia Orchestra
Financial Times
The programme was as central as they come: all Beethoven, with Joshua Bell as the soloist in the Violin Concerto, followed by Muti doing his utmost to
Muti has lost musical magic of early careerTimes Online

all 4 news articles »


Young boy collects rubbish
Weston & Somerset Mercury
Ashcombe Primary School pupil Joshua Bell has his eye on a possible career working for Great Western Air Ambulance (GWAA) so has devoted his spare time to


Brisbane Times

The Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Joshua Bell
Brisbane Times
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields together with virtuoso Joshua Bell will perform their only Australian concert at the Queensland Performing Arts

Classical Music Directory

Joshua Bell Forum
Click to enter forum ...

snopes.com: Joshua Bell Plays in Subway
Did Violinist Joshua Bell play incognito in a Washington subway?

Amazon.com: Joshua Bell - Gershwin Fantasy: Joshua Bell ...
Amazon.com: Joshua Bell - Gershwin Fantasy: Joshua Bell, George Gershwin, John [composer] Williams: Music

YouTube - Stop and Hear the Music
Will one of the nation's greatest violinists be noticed in a D.C. Metro stop during rush hour? Joshua Bell experimented for Gene Weingarten's story in The Wa...

Joshua Bell on Yahoo! Music
Joshua Bell music profile on Yahoo! Music. Find lyrics, free streaming MP3s, music videos and photos of Joshua Bell on Yahoo! Music