Violinist Joshua Bell returns to Carnegie Hall on Tuesday, November 12 at 8:00 p.m. with pianist Sam Haywood for a recital in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. On the program is Tartini's Violin Sonata in G Minor, Op. 1, No. 10, "Devil's Trill Sonata;" Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 10 in G Major, Op. 96; and Stravinsky's Divertimento, plus additional works to be announced from the stage.
Throughout 2013, Mr. Bell celebrates the 300th birthday of his cherished violin, a 1713 Huberman Stradivarius. The rare instrument has a fateful tie to Carnegie Hall. On February 28, 1936, it was stolen from the
Carnegie Hall dressing room of Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman while he performed in recital to raise funds to save Jewish musicians from the Holocaust. Mr. Huberman carried a double violin case with both the Stradivarius as well as a violin made by Giuseppe Guarneri. While performing on the Guarnerius, he left his Stradivarius in his dressing room where it was stolen by violinist Julian Altman. Altman covered the violin in shoe polish to disguise it for nearly fifty years, and the theft remained a mystery until he made a deathbed confession to his wife, Marcelle Hall. After his death, she had the violin authenticated, and after its return, it was restored and later sold to Norbert Brainin. In 2001,
Joshua Bell acquired the long lost Stradivarius.
For more information on the story of this violin, click
here. For details on the 1936 concert at which the instrument was taken, please view more information
here.
About the Artists
Joshua Bell is one of the world's most celebrated violinists. Among numerous awards and honors, Mr. Bell is an Avery Fisher Prize recipient and Musical America's 2010 Instrumentalist of the Year. Mr. Bell's summer 2013 highlights included performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, a new program created by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, in concerts in Purchase, NY; Washington, DC; Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; and London, England. In 2013, Mr. Bell tours the US with The Cleveland Orchestra, Europe with the New York Philharmonic, and performs with the Tucson, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Nashville symphony orchestras.
Recently appointed music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, he is the first person to hold this title since Sir Neville Marriner, who formed the orchestra in 1958. His first recording with the Academy as music director and conductor was released February 12, 2013, featuring Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Mr. Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs, garnering Mercury, Grammy, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards. Recent releases include
Musical Gifts From Joshua Bell and Friends featuring holiday collaborations with Renée Fleming, Alison Kraus, Gloria Estefan, Placido Domingo, Steven Isserlis,
Kristin Chenoweth and others;
French Impressions with pianist Jeremy Denk, the eclectic
At Home with Friends, the
Defiancesoundtrack,
Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, and
Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker. His discography encompasses critically acclaimed performances of most of the major violin repertoire in addition to John Corigliano's Oscar-winning soundtrack to
The Red Violin.
Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Mr. Bell received his first violin at age four and at 12 began studying with revered violinist Josef Gingold at Indiana University. Two years later, Mr. Bell came to national attention in his debut with Riccardo Muti and The
Philadelphia Orchestra and, at age 17, made his
Carnegie Hall debut. Bell's extensive career has now spanned more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and conductor.
British pianist Sam Haywood has performed to critical acclaim all over the world. Alongside his busy solo and chamber music career, he is also a composer and artistic director of the Solent Music Festival. Later this year, Sam will make his solo debuts in US (Kennedy Center,
Washington DC), Peru (Philharmonic Society), and Austria (Konzerthaus, Vienna). He is a regular duo partner to violinist Joshua Bell, with whom he has toured all over the world. He also regularly appears with cellist Steven Isserlis and recently recorded a CD of piano works by Julius Isserlis, Steven's grandfather, for Hyperion. To celebrate Chopin's bicentennial year, Mr. Haywood made the first recording to feature Chopin's own Pleyel piano, which has since been broadcast numerous times. Mr. Haywood's next recording project, entitled
Composers in Love, will feature a selection of works inspired by composers' hearts' desires. Following his early success in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him its prestigious Isserlis award. Haywood went on to study with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna, where he discovered an enduring passion for opera. At the Royal Academy of Music in London, he was mentored by Maria Curcio, the renowned teacher and pupil of Artur Schnabel.
