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| | Arts Calendar / December 18 / Concerts |
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 Joshua Bell, a violinist widely-admired by audiences and critics, was born fortuitously in Bloomington, Indiana, home of the Indiana University School of Music, which eventually assumed a decisive role in Bell's musical development. Bell was exposed to music from an early age and began his violin studies with Mimi Zweig. Bell's talents developed rapidly; he made his debut as a soloist in performance with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra at the age of seven. Bell came to wide national attention as a grand prize winner in the first annual Seventeen Magazine/General Motors National Concerto Competition in Rochester, NY. He soon appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti on September 24, 1982 -- the youngest person ever to appear with the orchestra as a soloist on a subscription concert. Bell's 1985 Carnegie Hall debut with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra was greeted with the kind of enthusiastic reviews that were a bellwether of his successful concert and recording career. By the mid-'90s, Bell had recorded much of the standard violin repertoire, exhibiting a musically informed and winning personal style. His playing is lyrical and bright, marked by a high-minded approach and a smooth, silvery tone. He works with musicians outside the classical realm, such as Chick Corea and James Taylor, meanwhile performing with the world's top orchestras and conductors. Other collaborations led to Bell's establishing chamber music recital series in both London and Paris. Artists such as Steven Isserlis, Pamela Frank, Jean-Yves Thibaudet are his partners in these recitals and in recordings. In 2001, Bell sold his "Tom Taylor" Stradivarius violin and purchased the storied "Gibson ex Huberman" Strad, subject of the 2013 documentary, The Return of the Violin. He made a notable appearance in 2007, busking in one of Washington, DC's Metro stations as an aid to Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten. While continuing his recital performances, teaching, and the ocassional film music recording, Bell took on a new challenge in 2011: music director of the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
Moscow Conservatory Great Hall  |
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 Widely regarded as one of the leading English pianists of his generation, Paul Lewis is best known for his interpretations of the 32 sonatas and five concertos of Beethoven. He also plays large chunks from the outputs of Mozart, Liszt, and Schubert, including the substantial piano accompaniments in the latter composer's famous song collections, Winterreise and Die schöne Müllerin. Lewis has concertized across Europe, Asia, Japan, Australia, and the Americas and has performed with many world-class ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Bavarian Radio Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Lewis has recorded for Harmonia Mundi and Hyperion Records. He was born in Liverpool, England, on May 20, 1972. Though he preferred the piano as a precocious child, he first studied the cello because his school lacked a piano teacher. From about age 10 he took piano lessons and at 14 enrolled at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, where his teachers included Ryszard Bakst. Lewis' first important recordings appeared in 2003. Over the summer, 2010 Lewis performed all five Beethoven piano concertos in BBC broadcast concerts, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in London, becoming the first pianist ever to do the entire cycle at the Proms in a single season.
MMDM Svetlanov Hall |
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