Lights

With a career spanning almost four decades, Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated artists of our time. He has performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, and regularly appears as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and as the Music Director of London’s Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF).

In the 2025-26 season, Bell continues to champion the rediscovered Violin Concerto by Thomas de Hartmann, following his recent Diapason D’Or-winning world premiere recording of the work. After giving its UK premiere at London’s BBC Proms, he performs the concerto with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, and Oslo Philharmonic, and gives its Canadian premiere during his season-long tenure as a Toronto Symphony Spotlight Artist. With ASMF, he leads extensive tours on both sides of the Atlantic, including returns to the Vienna Konzerthaus and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Other orchestral highlights include his first appearances as Principal Guest Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony; concerto dates with the Houston Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra; and concerts and an Asian tour with Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. As well as giving recitals in the U.S. and Europe, Bell joins Steven Isserlis and Evgeny Kissin for trio programs in New York, Kansas City, Paris, Vienna, and Prague, and reunites with Jeremy Denk for duo recitals at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Ravinia Festival.

Bell has been nominated for six Grammy Awards, named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America, selected as a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and recognized with the Avery Fisher Prize. He has also received the 2003 Indiana Governor’s Arts Award and, in 1991, a Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the Jacobs School of Music. In 2000, he was named an “Indiana Living Legend.” Bell has performed for three American presidents and the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. He participated in former president Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities’ first cultural mission to Cuba, subsequently joining Cuban and American musicians for an Emmy-nominated PBS Live from Lincoln Center special. Titled Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba, this celebrated the renewal of cultural diplomacy between Cuba and the United States.

Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin.

About Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Founded in 1958 by Sir Neville Marriner, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields has evolved into a musical powerhouse, an orchestra renowned across the world for its commitment to the musical freedom of its players and the sharing of joyful, inspiring performances.

Today, with Music Director Joshua Bell, ASMF’s player-led approach empowers every member of the orchestra. This creates a direct line and electrifying connection between the orchestra and our audiences, resulting in ambitious and collaborative performances that transcend the more traditional conductor-led model.

ASMF will present its most ambitious season of the last decade in 2025/26 continuing to collaborate with the world’s great soloists and directors, including Music Director Joshua Bell (including London’s Cadogan Hall in January 2026), Jan Lisiecki, Steven Isserlis, Arthur & Lucas Jussen, Elena Urioste and Khatia Buniatishvili alongside exciting rising stars such as Arielle Beck. The orchestra also embarks on its most significant international season of the last decade, including four tours to the US, ASMF’s return after 20 years to NYC’s Carnegie Hall, and four separate tours to countries across Europe.

Building on its rich global legacy, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields remains one of the world’s most-recorded orchestras, igniting a love for classical music in people around the world through live performance and digital initiatives. Today, they continue a busy international touring program alongside a significant presence in the UK – making them one of the country’s most celebrated cultural exports.

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