Bell back for benefit concert

After nearly three years, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is returning to his hometown of Bloomington to perform at 8 p.m. June 24 at the Musical Arts Center. This concert is one of the first of many coming attractions of the IU School of Music's Summer Music Festival. \nThe festival will raise money for the memorial scholarship fund of the performer's father and a former IU professor, Alan P. Bell. \n"Josh's normal performance fees will be donated to endow a scholarship set up at the IU foundation," said Shirley Bell, Josh's mother. "Many of the details haven't been worked out yet, but it will benefit School of Music students."\nBell will be assisted by his frequent touring partner and internationally known solo pianist and chamber musician, Simon Mulligan. Mulligan has toured with Bell since 1998, according to Trisha Miles, interim director of publicity for the IU School of Music.\n"They have toured together across the United States, Europe and the East," she said. \nMulligan also recently has signed a multi-album contract with Sony Classical. The two have been touring together all over the world at major concerts and events, one being the 2002 Grammy Awards ceremony.\nBell and Mulligan are to perform selected works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Maurice Ravel and Pabo de Sarasate.\nJoshua Bell was born in Bloomington in 1967 and began playing violin at the age of four thanks to his parents -- both psychologists -- who bought him his first violin after they noticed the young Bell playing with rubber bands stretched between the handles of his dresser drawers. \n"He was always extremely talented," said Shirley Bell. "He never sounded like a child playing." However, Bell developed his passion for violin later, a passion his mother attributes to studying under Josef Gingold.\nBy the age of 12, he had begun practicing and playing for well-known IU violinist Josef Gingold. Two years later he made his orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra and soon after at Carnegie Hall. Succeeding these two highly acclaimed debuts was a recording contract that made Bell a renowned music sensation throughout the world. \nBell attended IU and received an artist diploma in 1989. He has since recorded 26 albums, played with leading symphony orchestras and conductors around the world and been broadcast on television multiple times. Some of these television appearances were on "The Tonight Show," "Nightline," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and A&E's "Biography," among many others. \nIn 2000, he was presented with the Indiana Living Legend Award, bestowed by the Indiana Historical Society. He received multiple Grammy Awards, one of which was Best Classical Engineered Recording for his recording of West Side Story Suite in 2001. Governor Frank O'Bannon will present him with the Indiana Governor's Arts Award in October.\n"Josh will be the only artist receiving the award this year," his mother said. \nBell has gained worldwide praise for his skill and artistry. Newsweek lauded him, saying, "Bell has evolved from a technical whiz to a true artist and intellectual whose music feeds both your brain and your heart."\nUnrelated to his musical expertise, Bell also was named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People" by People magazine in 2000 and one of the "IT Men of the Millennium" by Glamour magazine. Bell, now a New York resident, also teaches at London's Academy of Music and works with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab to develop new high-tech instruments and toys. \nTickets for the concert are available at the Musical Arts Center box office as well as through Ticketmaster for $20 for the general public and $10 for IU students with a valid ID.