Arts & Culture

Superstar Violinist Joshua Bell Joins UK Orchestra in Concert

 

Joshua Bell plays "Summer" from Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 30, 2015) — Continuing a tradition of playing with the best of the best classical musicians, University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra will take the Singletary Center for the Arts stage with superstar violinist Joshua Bell this weekend. The concert will begin 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 3.

The program for the Bell concert with UK Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro John Nardolillo, includes performances of Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No.1 in G Minor, Op. 26 and Camille Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28.

Often referred to as the "poet of the violin," Bell is one of the world's most famous violinists. He continues to enchant audiences with his breathtaking virtuosity, tone of sheer beauty, and charismatic stage presence. His restless curiosity, passion, universal appeal and multi-faceted musical interests have earned him the rare title of "classical music superstar."

Recently named the music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bell is the first person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958. Their first recording under his leadership of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 7 from Sony Classical debuted at number one on the Billboard Classical chart. Bell’s recording of the Bach violin concertos with the orchestra was released September 2014 and coincided with the airing of the HBO documentary "Joshua Bell: A YoungArts MasterClass." He has recorded more than 40 CDs, garnering Mercury, Grammy, Gramophone and Echo Klassik awards. Bell's previous release "Romance of the Violin" was named the 2004 Classical CD of the Year by Billboard and earned the musician Classical Artist of the Year honors.

Bell was recognized for his achievements by the New York Chapter, The Recording Academy in 2013 and by the National YoungArts Foundation in 2012. In 2011, he received the Paul Newman Award from Arts Horizons and the Huberman Award from Moment magazine. Bell was named Instrumentalist of the Year 2010 by Musical America and received the Humanitarian Award from Seton Hall University. In 2009, he was honored by Education Through Music and received the Academy of Achievement Award in 2008. In 2007, Bell was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize and recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2005.

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell received his first violin at age four. At age 12, he began studying with Josef Gingold at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he is now on faculty. Two years later, he came to national attention in his debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra and at 17 debuted at Carnegie Hall. His career has spanned over 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and conductor, and he is an outspoken advocate for classical music and keeping music education in schools. Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius.

To hear Bell talk about the upcoming concert at UK, listen to his interview with WUKY at: http://wuky.org/post/meet-joshua-bell.

Founded in 1918, the UK Symphony Orchestra is regarded as one of the nation’s best college orchestras. The 100-member all-student orchestra, housed at UK School of Music, presents more than 50 concerts each year including classical, chamber and education concerts. The group is made up of undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States, Asia, South America and Europe. The orchestra regularly performs with world-renowned concert artists including Itzhak Perlman, Sarah Chang, Gil Shaham, Mark O’Connor, Lynn Harrell, Marvin Hamlisch, Denyce Graves, Lang Lang, Ronan Tynan, Natasha Paremski and Arlo Guthrie. The orchestra performs in the concert hall at the Singletary Center for the Arts and on tour, including concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2007 and 2010, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2009.

Many of UK Symphony Orchestra's performances with major artists are the result of collaboration between Nardolillo and Michael Grice, director of the Singletary Center. More on that partnernship can be seen here:

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Video by UK Public Relations and Marketing

The UK Symphony Orchestra also collaborates yearly with UK Opera Theatre and has recently presented "Porgy and Bess," "La Bohème," "Die Fledermaus," "Carmen," "La Traviata" and "Madama Butterfly," as well as Broadway favorites "Sweeney Todd," "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera." They also have an active outreach program bringing classical music to all corners of the Commonwealth. In addition to live performances, UK's orchestra is one of the only collegiate orchestra programs to record for Naxos, the world’s largest classical music label.

Ticket prices range from $65-$85 for the public and are on sale now.  Tickets for UK students, faculty and staff are $45. Tickets to the concert can be purchased by calling the Singletary Center ticket office at 859-257-4929, visiting online at www.scfatickets.com, or in person at the venue. Processing fees will be added to purchase upon transaction.

A part of the UK College of Fine Arts, the Singletary Center for the Arts presents and hosts around 400 artistic, cultural and educational events annually for the university community, Lexington community and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu

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