Joshua Bell joins music school faculty

Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell has joined the Jacobs School of Music faculty, University officials announced Thursday.\n“Josh is one of the most excellent performers on the stage today,” violinist Alex Kerr said in a press release. “For students to have access to a performer of his caliber is unbelievable and almost unprecedented. It’s very rare, in this day and age, for a musician of this magnitude to be giving back to students.” \nBell graduated from IU with an Artist Diploma in 1989 and will begin his work with the Jacobs School in the 2008-2009 school year, according to a press release. His job will involve participating in performances and coaching students and ensembles during two week-long residencies.\nIn the last three years many popular music professionals have based their teaching careers at IU, including National Symphony Orchestra maestro Leonard Slatkin; pianists Andre Watts and Arnaldo Cohen; violinists Mark Kaplan, Alex Kerr and Jaime Laredo; singers Carol Vaness, Sylvia McNair and Marietta Simpson; ballet master Michael Vernon; bassoonist William Ludwig and hornist Jeff Nelson.\nAfter being crowned winner of the Avery Fisher Prize and IU’s favorite son, Bell has decided to return to follow in the footsteps of his late mentor and Jacobs School professor Josef Gingold.\n“I can think of no greater place than the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Ind., to accept a faculty position,” Bell said in a press release.