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For other people named Joshua Bell, see Joshua Bell (disambiguation).

Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell, after a performance with the San Francisco Symphony in California
Background information
Origin	Bloomington, Indiana, United States
Genres	Classical music
Occupation	Violinist
Instrument	Violin
Years active	1980s–present
Website	http://www.joshuabell.com/

Joshua David Bell is an American violinist.

Early life

Joshua Bell was born into a Jewish-American family in Bloomington, Indiana. His father was the late Alan P. Bell, a former psychology professor at Indiana University, and a researcher on homosexuality at the Kinsey Institute. In an interview, Bell said that "music was very important in my family"; however, none of his family members were professional musicians. Bell began learning the violin at age four, after his parents noticed that he had stretched rubber bands around the handles of dresser drawers, and was plucking classical tunes. He took to the instrument quickly, but otherwise led a normal childhood, enjoying video games, pinball, and tennis: he was an Indiana tennis champion at the age of 10.

Bell began his musical instruction with Mimi Zweig, and made his debut as a soloist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra at age seven. His playing caught the intrest of Josef Gingold's, a member of Indiana University's music faculty, who took Bell as a pupil by age 12.

References

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. --> | NAME = | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 9 December 1967 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = }} [[Category:1967 births]] [[Category:Living people]]