Joshua Bell Opens Hollywood Bowl's 2014 Classical Season with Glenn Close, Frankie Moreno & More Tonight

This year's Los Angeles Philharmonic classical season at the Hollywood Bowl opens with famed violinist and Bowl favorite Joshua Bell performing with close friends and special guests Glenn Close, Frankie Moreno, Philippe Quint and Time for Three in a concert led by another Bowl favorite, Bramwell Tovey, tonight, July 8, at 8 pm.

The concert, which features everything from Broadway to classical to bluegrass music, opens with the LA Phil performing Franz Waxman's Prelude to Sunset Boulevard. Waxman's soundtrack to the film was named No. 16 of the top 25 film scores in the American Film Institute's "100 Years of Film Scores" list in 2005. Bell then joins the orchestra to perform Nigel Hess' Classical BRIT Awards-nominated Ladies in Lavender, which was recorded by Bell along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for the film's soundtrack.

Following on the program are two works by Pablo de Sarasate - his Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20, and Navarra for two violins and orchestra, Op. 33, featuring Bell as soloist in the first piece and joined by fellow violinist Philippe Quint in the second.

After intermission, the program resumes with classically-trained eclectic string trio Time for Three joining Bell to perform Edgar Meyer's Death by Triple Violin, which Bell recorded, in 1998, with Meyer and bluegrass musicians Sam Bush and Mike Marshall.

Next on the program, Las Vegas star Frankie Moreno joins Bell for McCartney/Lennon's Eleanor Rigby from the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver. The pair's cover of the song on Bell's 2009 release At Home with Friends went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Actress/singer Glenn Close takes the stage with Bell for a performance of Webber's As if We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard. Close presented Bell with the 2007 Avery Fisher Prize in 2007, and in December of 2013 Bell performed at the gala benefitting Bring Change 2 Mind, a national anti-stigma campaign founded by Close.

The program concludes with Tovey and the LA Phil performing Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919).

Subscriptions and single tickets are available now for the Hollywood Bowl 2014 summer season at HollywoodBowl.com or Ticketmaster.com, or via phone at 323.850.2000, and in person at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office. For more information, call 323.850.2000.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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