Violinist to receive award

Joshua Bell, the world-renowned violinist and IU alumnus, can add the 2003 Governor's Arts Award to his list of accolades.\nBell, 35, and four other recipients of this year's award will be honored at a luncheon in Indianapolis today. Performing in a concert in Paris will prevent Bell from personally being on-hand to receive the award, but his mother Shirley Bell will be there to accept on his behalf.\nBell, who was born and raised in Bloomington, received his first violin at age four and first performed in public at age six. At 12, Bell was a student under Josef Gingold, a former IU professor of music and winner of the 1983 Governor's Arts Award. \nBell recognizes the impact Bloomington and IU have had on his musical career.\n"In accepting this award I cannot help but be reminded of how lucky I was to have grown up in Bloomington, home to Indiana University and the esteemed IU School of Music," Bell said in a conference call with reporters.\nAt 14, Bell made his orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Bell has since recorded 26 albums, won multiple Grammy awards, served as an artistic advisor and body double and played all violin sound for the film "The Red Violin," a soundtrack that won the Academy Award for "Best Original Score" in 1999.\nBell received the Artist Diploma from IU in 1989 and was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from IU in 1991. In 2000, the Indiana Historical Society named Bell an "Indiana Living Legend," a distinction that is reserved for those who make an impact on the state through their personal or professional accomplishments.\nIndiana Arts Commission chairman Jim Bodenmiller expressed the pride the Indiana Arts Commission has in giving the award to Bell.\n"We are proud of our native Hoosier, educated at IU, and his accomplishments, and are pleased to be able to select him for the Governor's Arts Award for 2003."\nMimi Zweig, an IU professor of violin, believes that Bell is an example that extraordinary people can come from anywhere.\n"The fact that he comes from Blooomington is a credit to the fact that talented people can come from any place," Zweig said. \nLate Indiana governor Frank O'Bannon once said that wherever Bell performs he is an ambassador for the state of Indiana and a prime example of what can be accomplished if talent is helped along by parents, mentors and educators.\nThe Indiana Governor's Arts Awards are given to outstanding individuals, groups, business and others who make significant contributions to helping promote the arts in Indiana. Since the inception of the award in 1973, the Indiana Arts Commission and the Governor's Office have honored 91 individuals, organizations, businesses and communities. Past award winners include author and Indianapolis native Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Dr. Wilfred Bain and The Lotus World Music and Arts Festival.\nBell will join the city of Rising Sun and Historic Downtown Rising Sun program, Eugene and Marilyn Glick of Indianapolis, Old National Bankcorp of Evansville and Eric Rogers and Arts Place, Inc. of Portland as the recipients of this year's award.\n-- Contact staff writer Pat Donohue at prdonohu@indiana.edu.