Joshua Bell: Fun Facts

First Solo Recital That Almost Didn’t Happen:
“The day of my first solo recital I was tossing around a boomerang which whirled back and sliced my chin open. Two inches to the left and I couldn’t have held my violin. But I played, wounded.”

Professional Debut:
Age 14 with the Philadelphia Orchestra

Constant Companion:
His 1713 Stradivarius valued at $4 million, the Gibson Ex Hubermann.

Awards:
- 2007 Avery Fisher Prize.
- Joshua has recorded more than 30 albums with awards including the Grammy Award and Mercury Prize for MAW Violin Concerto, Echo Klassik Award for Sibelius & Goldmark; Gramophone Award for Barber and Walton violin concertos and Bloch’s Baal Shem.

Distinctions:
- Billboard Magazine’s 2004 Classical Artist of the Year
- His CD, Romance of the Violin, named the 2004 Classical CD of the Year
- The only U.S. artist named as a 2007 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
- Joins Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music faculty in 2008 as Senior Lecturer

Soundtracks:
The Red Violin which won the Oscar for best original score, Dreamer, Inspired by A True Story, Ladies in Lavender, Iris.

Guilty Pleasure:
Joshua is the 1996 video game Crystal Caliburn World Champion

Hot Lists:
- Men’s Health Guide To Style “Red Hot Right Now" (2005)
- People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful” (2000)
- Glamour’s “One of the IT Men of the Millennium” (1999)

Firsts:
- First American-Born Violinist to star in the PBS series “Live From Lincoln Center-Joshua Bell At The Penthouse.”
- One of the first classical artists on VH1.

What He Can’t Do:
Cook or sing.

What Most People Don’t Know:
Indiana State Junior Tennis Champion

Most Ridiculous Stunt:
Paragliding in Sun Valley, ID just before a performance with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony.

Favorite television appearances:
Sesame Street, The Tonight Show, The Grammy Awards

Alma Mater:
Joshua received an Artist Diploma from the Indiana University School of Music in 1989. He received a Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1991.

Off Stage Accomplishments:
In 2001, he played with Mark McComber and Dale Douglas in the Transamerica Pro-Am at the Silverado Resort in Napa, CA.

On The Big Screen:
Joshua was the subject of a documentary which aired on BRAVO. Was body double on The Red Violin, and performed as himself in Music of the Heart.

Quote Heard ‘Round The World:
"Joshua Bell plays like a god,” said by John Corigliano in his Oscar acceptance speech for Best Original Score, The Red Violin.