The Columbus Symphony Welcomes Classical Violin Superstar Joshua Bell

For one night only, Joshua Bell, classical music's star violinist, returns to the Columbus Symphony for the first time since 1999, to perform the deeply romantic concerto of Max Bruch. Maestro Milanov closes the season with Margaret Brouwer's 2003 composition, Pulse, and Brahms' glowing final symphony.

The Columbus Symphony presents Joshua Bell Returns at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) on Thursday, May 10, at 8pm. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000. The CAPA Ticket Center will also be open two hours prior to each performance.

Prelude - Patrons are invited to join Christopher Purdy in the theatre at 7pm for a 30-minute, pre-concert discussion about the works to be performed.

With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and conductor, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. He has recorded more than 40 CDs, garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards, and is a recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize, as well as the Lumiere Prize for his work in the sphere of virtual reality. Named music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in 2011, he is the only person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958, and recently renewed his contract through 2020.

In 2016, Sony released Bell's For the Love of Brahms with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, cellist Steven Isserlis, and pianist Jeremy Denk, followed in 2017 by the Joshua Bell Classical Collection, a 14-CD set of Bell's Sony recording highlights from the past 20 years.

Last summer, Bell performed at the BBC Proms with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Verbier Festival, as artist in residence at the Edinburgh International Festival, and in the US at Tanglewood, Ravinia, and the Mostly Mozart Festival. In the 2017-18 US season, Bell participated in the New York Philharmonic's celebration of Leonard Bernstein's centennial, performing Bernstein's Serenade, and also appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra among others. His North American recital tours took him to Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Symphony Center, and DC's Strathmore Center.

Highlights in Europe include appearances as soloist with the Vienna Symphony and Danish National Symphony; as director and soloist with the Orchestre National de Lyon; and recitals in Paris, Zurich, Geneva, Bologna, Milan, and London. With the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, he toured widely, including the UK, US, and Europe with performances in London, New York, San Francisco, Reykjavik, and at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

Convinced of the value of music as a diplomatic and educational tool, Bell participated in President Obama's Committee on the Arts and Humanities' first cultural mission to Cuba. He is also involved in Turnaround Arts, another project implemented by the Committee and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, providing arts education to low-performing elementary and middle schools.

Bell performs on the 1713 Huberman Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th century French bow by François Tourte.

Respected and admired by audiences and musicians alike, Rossen Milanov is currently the Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain.

Milanov has established himself as a conductor with considerable national and international presence. He has appeared with the symphonies of Colorado, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Seattle, and Fort Worth, as well as the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall "Link Up" education projects with Chicago's Orchestra of St. Luke's and Civic Orchestra.

Internationally, Milanov has collaborated with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra de la Suisse Romand, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Aalborg, Latvian, and Hungarian National Symphony Orchestras. He has also conducted orchestras in Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico, Colombia, Sao Paolo, Belo Horizonte, New Zealand, and the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic in South Africa. In the Far East, he has appeared with the symphonies of NHK, Sapporo, Tokyo, and Singapore, the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Noted for his versatility, Milanov is also a welcome presence in the worlds of opera and ballet. Most recently, he collaborated with Komische Oper Berlin (Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtzensk), Opera Oviedo (Spanish premiere of Tchaikovsky's Mazzepa and Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle that was awarded best Spanish production for 2015), and Opera Columbus (Verdi's La Traviata).

www.columbussymphony.com

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