Joshua Bell: a contemporary virtuoso

Bell says that music takes him to "a completely different world. That's where the music is. That's where the audience is supposed to be."

In this story: Rubber bands, basketball and goose bumps "I do like to take risks" RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Shanon Cook
CNN

(CNN) -- Joshua Bell has the world at his fingertips -- quite literally. His skillful violin playing has earned him status as one of the world's most celebrated classical musicians of his generation.

Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia and the United States playing with the globe's top symphony orchestras and prominent composers.

This year, he won his first Grammy award for Best Instrumental Soloist for his world premiere recording of a concerto written especially for him by British composer Nicholas Maw.

VIDEO CNN's WorldBeat profiles American-born violin virtuoso Joshua Bell (May 18) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The award comes after receiving Grammy nominations for his recordings "Short Trip Home" (1998), a joint project with friend Edgar Meyer; "Gershwin Fantasy" (1998), a collaboration with composer John Williams; and "Listen to the Storyteller" (1999).

Bell also worked with composer John Corigliano on the score for the film "The Red Violin," which in 1999 picked up an Academy Award for best soundtrack.

Once considered a child prodigy, Bell has made a sizeable contribution to classical music for such a young man. He's only 33.

His violin, on the other hand, is as old as George Washington. The instrument (nicknamed "Tom Tyler" after a previous owner) was made in 1732 by the great Italian violin-crafter Antonio Stradivarius.

"It's a work of art really and there are very few in the world, and I am very lucky to have it," Bell said.

Rubber bands, basketball and goose bumps

Bell's obsession with strings started at the ripe old age of 3.

"I'm told I started stringing rubber bands on my dresser drawers... and would play tunes by opening the drawers to different tensions," he said. "And that was the first indication to my parents that they should get me an instrument."

So when he was 4, Bell was handed his first violin.

"I just took to it," he said.

Even though basketball, tennis and video games at times dominated Bell's boyhood, the violin remained a constant in his life. At age 12, music began playing a more dramatic role.

"I started to realize the goose bumps I was starting to get from the music. And I started to realize the power that it could have on my own life and on the audience. And I started to realize that this is an incredible field to be in."

At 14, Bell's career took a huge leap when he won a national concerto competition sponsored by Seventeen Magazine and General Motors. A short time later he found himself gliding bow over strings at Carnegie Hall with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Conductor Leonard Slatkin.

He's never looked back.

He doesn't look too bad, either. People magazine named Bell one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" in 2000 and Glamour magazine in 1999 chose him as one of six "Men of the Millennium."

"I've kind of taken things as they've come and not ever expected, or even thought about what kind of success I could have."

"I do like to take risks"

Whether playing Beethoven, Gershwin, jazz or a little bluegrass, Bell admits he doesn't shy away from pushing the boundaries with his music.

"When it comes to performing and making music I do like to take risks," he said. "When I perform I don't think at all, frankly, about what the audience wants from me. I think about what I want from the music, and hopefully they'll get caught up in that."

When he's not impressing audiences with his Stradivarius nestled beneath his chin, you'll find Bell on the green with a set of clubs in tow.

Golf, of which he is an avid fan, not only gives him a break from music, but Bell would like to think it also gives him practice with his mental focus.

"That magical swing is just very Zen, I guess you could say! I used to tell my mother that the video games helped my violin playing too, for my 'manual dexterity'. I don't know if she bought it!"

At this stage, it doesn't really matter. People all over the world are buying tickets to see the young violinist play. And to Bell, performing never loses its sense of excitement and reward.

"How many other jobs do you have people clapping for you at the end of the day?" he asked. "It's a nice business to be in."

Joshua Bell

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