The Washington Post called Joshua Bell “One of the most imaginative, technically gifted, and altogether extraordinary violinists of our time.”
So, what makes Bell so exceptional? Besides a 40-year career, many distinguished awards, recordings, movie scores, and celebrated performances? It’s his gift for communicating the music directly to the listener. As one writer put it, “Bell knows how to sell a violin concerto.” And with his superb technique, his exquisite, long, and elegant lines, and his charismatic stage presence, he is the consummate romantic virtuoso, perfectly in tune with the lush, passion-filled Max Bruch Violin Concerto No.1, one of the highlights of his upcoming concert with the NSO.
Joshua Bell will also conduct Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture, the work of a stunning 17-year-old genius, complete with scampering fairies and braying donkeys. The program closes with Mendelssohn’s sunny “Italian” Symphony No.4, an exhilarating tour-de-force by a young composer who fell in love with the landscape, art, and people of Italy. “The whole country” he wrote, “had such a festive air that I felt as if I were a young prince making his entry.” The Italian Symphony, he told his sister Fanny, "will be happiest piece I have ever written.”
This concert is a terrific way to celebrate the return of the NSO’s Fall season.
Joshua Bell Returns with Bruch and Mendelssohn
Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16 at 8 p.m.
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