ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

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Washington, D.C.­, Nov 29, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) A perennial Washington favorite known for his broad and eclectic musical repertoire, Joshua Bell returns to perform for WPAS this season at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Sunday, January 23. Said the Washington Post of Bell’s appearance here last season, “Bell and pianist Sam Haywood delivered a trademark performance of athletic virtuosity and yearning, unquiet musicianship.” The New York Times described Bell’s Carnegie Hall recital last season as a “showcase for Mr. Bell’s gleaming tone and virtuosity.”

Despite his youthful appearance and punishing schedule of some 200 performances a year, Bell has now ranked among the world’s great violinists for almost three decades, having made his debut at age 14 with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Bell began his new post as Musical Director of London’s Academy of St Martin in the Fields in September 2011.

Bell is one of a handful of classical music artists to gather fans from across the musical spectrum. His most recent recordings include French Impressions (to be released on January 10, 2012), a recording of works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Franck, and music for the soundtrack of the new

$98 million Chinese film Flowers of War starring Christian Bale, which begins its U.S. release in December. Glamour magazine said of his recording of The Red Violin soundtrack that it was “moving enough to make even the most die-hard Metallica fan shed a tear,” while the composer of that score said simply that “Joshua Bell plays like a god.” Romance of the Violin was also named Billboard’s 2004 Classical CD of the Year, while Bell was named the Classical Artist of the Year.

A Grammy Award-winner, he has recorded more than 30 CDs of both classical and non-classical music including film soundtracks for the Classical Brit-nominated Ladies in Lavender and the Academy Award-winning film Iris. Bell was also featured on composer James Newton Howard’s soundtrack for the Edward Zwick film Defiance, well as on the soundtrack of the Ron Howard film Angels and Demons, starring Tom Hanks. Bell’s recent CD, At Home with Friends, features performances with Chris Botti, Sting, Josh Groban, Kristen Chenoweth, Anoushka Shankar and many others.

In October Bell was awarded The Paul Newman Award for services to the arts and children from Arts Horizons, a non-profit arts-in-education organization that brings quality arts programming to New York City and New Jersey public schools, hospital pediatric wings, and community centers. On November 6, Bell received the Bronislaw Huberman Award from Moment Magazine at the Washington, DC Gala and Symposium in celebration of its 36th anniversary. The annual event benefits the Daniel Pearl Investigative Journalism initiative which supports a young journalist each year to research and write about a deeply engrained prejudice anywhere in the world. The symposium addressed the origins of human creativity and took place at American University.

Co-incidentally, Joshua Bell performs on the 1713 Gibson ex Huberman violin, once owned by Bronislaw Huberman, who founded what would become the Israeli Philharmonic. Ben Huberman, a descendent of the late violinist, presented the award. Before 1936, Huberman's principal instrument was the 1713-vintage Stradivarius "Gibson," which was named after one of its early owners, the English violinist George Alfred Gibson. The violin was stolen twice, first in 1919 from Huberman's Vienna hotel room and, after its recovery, from Carnegie Hall.

On February 28, 1936, while giving a concert there, Huberman switched his Stradivarius "Gibson" with his newly acquired Guarnerius violin, leaving the Stradivarius unguarded in his dressing room during intermission. According to different accounts, it was either stolen or bought for $100 by Julian Altman, a New York nightclub musician who kept it for the next half century. In 1985, Altman made a deathbed confession to his wife, who returned it to the insurer and collected a finder's fee of $263,000. The instrument underwent a nine-month restoration by J&A Beare Ltd., in London and in 1988, was sold to the British violinist Norbert Brainin, who played first violin in the legendary Amadeus Quartet. Joshua Bell bought the violin in October 2000.

Joshua Bell grew up on a farm in Indiana and got his first violin when he was four after his psychologist parents noticed him playing music on elastic bands he had strung across the handles of his dresser drawers. He also played tennis as a child, placing fourth in a national tennis tournament at age ten. After his orchestral debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bell made his Carnegie Hall debut, received a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and a recording contract, all of which established his presence in the music world. Today Bell is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra leader. He enjoys chamber music collaborations with artists such as Pamela Frank, Steven Isserlis and Edgar Meyer and has also played with non-classical stars such as Josh Groban, James Taylor, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea and Sting. Bell cites his appearance on Sesame Street as his most memorable television work, but he has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show, PBS’ Great Performances and many other broadcasts.

British pianist Sam Haywood has performed worldwide to high critical acclaim as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician and has recorded extensively for radio and CD. His latest release is the first recording to have ever been made on Chopin's own 1846 Pleyel piano and was chosen as CD of the Week by the BBC Radio 3’s Sunday Morning program.  Last season, Haywood toured America performing in 21 recitals with Joshua Bell and the U.K. and also performed with Steven Isserlis. Future engagements will include solo and chamber music recitals in the U.K., Germany, Indonesia, Japan, South America, Poland, Austria, Russia, Romania, Switzerland, the United States and the Czech Republic.

Haywood began playing the piano at the age of four, inspired by evenings listening to crackly Beethoven LPs with his grandmother in the English Lake District. Following his success at age 13 in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him the prestigious Isserlis Award. He went on to study in Vienna with Paul Badura-Skoda and at the Royal Academy of Music with the late Maria Curcio, a pupil of Artur Schnabel.

Haywood often includes lesser-known works by Rosetti, Gade, Franz Xaver Mozart, Alkan, Field, Isserlis, McLeod (commission) and Hummel in his solo recital programs. He has also edited a new edition of piano works by Julius Isserlis as well as Carl Frühling's Clarinet Trio.

Haywood has composed several small-scale works for solo piano and various duos, including the Song of the Penguins, published by Emerson Editions. He is also regularly involved in educational projects and has co-written a children's opera. He recently made a transcription of the Romance from Chopin's First Piano Concerto.

Heywood is a keen amateur magician.

Who: Joshua Bell, violin Sam Haywood, piano

Where: Kennedy Center Concert Hall

When: Monday, January 23, 2012 at 8 p.m.

Program: TBA

Tickets: $45-$115 available at www.wpas.org or (202) 785-9727