SOLD OUT ~ Joshua Bell & Sam Haywood

Joshus Bell, Violin Sam Haywood, Piano
TOMASO ANTONIO VITALI (1663-1745) Approximately 10 minutes	Chaconne for Violin and Piano in G minor
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Approximately 35 minutes	Sonata No. 9 for Violin and Piano in A major, Op. 47 Adagio sostenuto - Presto Andante con variazioni Presto
GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Approximately 26 minutes	Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano in A major, Op. 13 Allegro molto Andante Allegro vivo Allegro quasi presto

Always a favorite at The Lyric Theatre, Joshua Bell returns this season for another brilliant performance. Known as the “poet of the violin” Bell takes the instrument to new heights, reinterpreting classical, pop, and cinematic compositions in unique and refreshing ways. Since becoming an overnight internet sensation for his videos featuring his undercover subway performance in Washington D.C., Joshua Bell has continued growing as a musician, recently becoming the Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Bell grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where he excelled in nearly everything he attempted. A passionate computer gamer and prodigy with a tennis racquet, Joshua Bell began developing his musical skills after his parents gave him a violin at the age of 4. By the age of 12, the talented young artist began studying with Josef Gingold. At age 14, Bell premiered as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, cementing his place as a rising star in the classical music field. The violinist has continued to make waves, receiving the Avery Fisher Prize in 2007 and the Paul Newman Award from Arts Horizons in 2011. A member of the Board of Directors of the New York Philharmonic and the artist committee of the Kennedy Center, Bell has performed for numerous presidents, including President Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jingping.

Playing with a 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and an 18^th century French bow, Joshua Bell has appeared on numerous television broadcasts, including The Tonight Show, Live From Lincoln Center, and the Grammy Awards. His 2007 incognito subway performance earned his collaborator, Washington Post journalist Gene Weingarter, a Pulitzer Prize, and inspired the 2013 children’s book The Man with the Violin. This past October, Bell’s HBO special “Joshua Bell: A YoungArts MasterClass” aired, coinciding with the violinist’s release of a Bach album recorded with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. His performance at the Lyric Theatre this January will explore a side of the violin you’ve never seen before.

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Sam Haywood has performed to critical acclaim in many of the world’s major concert halls. The Washington Post hailed his “dazzling, evocative playing and lyrical sensitivity” and the New York Times his “passionate flair and sparkling clarity”. As a chamber musician he regularly appears with Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis.

For Hyperion he has recorded the piano works of Russian pianist-composer Julius Isserlis, grandfather of cellist Steven Isserlis. His latest album, ‘Composers in Love,’ brings together both well-loved and lesser known music inspired by composers’ muses. To celebrate Chopin’s bicentennial year, Haywood made the world première recording on Chopin’s own Pleyel piano, part of the Cobbe Collection. He is also featured on Musical Gifts From Joshua Bell and Friends for Sony Masterworks. His performances have been broadcast extensively in the USA and Europe and he was most recently a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Midweek and BBC Radio 3’s In Tune.

Following Haywood's early success in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition, the Royal Philharmonic Society awarded him their prestigious Isserlis Award. He studied with Paul Badura-Skoda in Vienna, where he began his enduring love affair with opera. At the Royal Academy of Music in London he was mentored by the great teacher Maria Curcio, pupil of Artur Schnabel.

Private audiences have included Princess Diana, HRHs Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, Hillary Clinton and Xi Jingping, President of China.
He is also the inventor of memorystars® (memory-stars.com), which can dramatically reduce the time needed to memorize a music score, or indeed any printed text.

His many passions include natural history, physics, technology, magic, kick-scooting, fountain pens, creating hanging mobiles and table tennis.