Bell began playing the violin at age four after his mother discovered that he had taken rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of his nine dresser drawers to pluck out music he had heard her play on the piano. His parents got a scaled-to-size violin for him when he was five and started giving him lessons. Bell took to the instrument but had an otherwise normal Indiana childhood, playing video games and excelling at sports, especially tennis and bowling. He placed in a national tennis tournament at age ten.[5]
Bell's first violin teacher was Donna Bricht, widow of Indiana University music faculty member Walter Bricht.[6] His second was Mimi Zweig, and his third the violinist and pedagog Josef Gingold, who accepted Bell as a student after his parents assured him that they were not interested in pushing their son to be a star but simply wanted him to have the best teacher for his abilities. By age 12, Bell was serious about the instrument, thanks in large part to Gingold's inspiration.[citation needed]
At age 14, Bell appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti. He studied violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and graduated from Bloomington High School North in 1984.[7] In 1989 Bell received an Artist Diploma in violin performance from Indiana University. IU also honored him with a Distinguished Alumni Service Award two years after his graduation. He has been named an "Indiana Living Legend"[8] and received the Indiana Governor's Arts Award.[9]
Bell's instrument is the Gibson ex Huberman, a Stradivarius made in 1713 during what is known as Stradivari's "Golden Era". The violin was stolen twice from its previous owner, Bronisław Huberman; the final time, the thief confessed to the act on his deathbed.[12] Bell had played the violin; its owner at the time, violinist Norbert Brainin, jokingly told him that it could be his for $4 million. On August 3, 2001, Bell was in London to perform at The Proms; before the concert he was approached by J & A Beare. He learned that the violin was in London and about to be sold to a German industrialist to become part of a collection. Bell played the violin at the Proms that same evening.[13] He later sold his previous violin, the Tom Taylor Stradivarius,[14] for a little more than $2 million and bought the Gibson ex Huberman for a little under the $4 million asking price. The 2013 documentary The Return of the Violin tells the story of the instrument's theft, return, and subsequent acquisition by Bell.[15] Bell's first recording with the Gibson ex Huberman was Romance of the Violin for Sony Classical Records in 2003.
Bell won the Avery Fisher Prize on April 10, 2007, at Lincoln Center in New York City. The prize is given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement.[17] On May 3, 2007, Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music announced that Bell had joined the faculty as a senior lecturer.[18]
In May 2011, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) named Bell its music director.[22][23] He has recorded commercially with the ASMF for the Sony Classical label.[24] In July 2017, the ASMF announced a three-year extension of his contract, through 2020.[25] Bell and the orchestra won the 2017 Helpmann Award for Best Individual Classical Music Performance.[26] In April 2024, the ASMF announced an additional extension of Bell's contract as its music director through August 2028.[27]
Bell played himself in three episodes of Mozart in the Jungle in 2014, 2015, and 2016.[29] In 2016, he had a cameo in the penultimate musical episode of Royal Pains.[30] He also appeared as himself in episode 8 ("Quacktice Makes Perfect") of the 2017 Netflix original series Julie's Greenroom.[31]
In October 2024, the New Jersey Symphony announced the appointment of Bell as its new principal guest conductor, effective with the 2025–2026 season, with an initial contract of four seasons.[32]
Washington Post experiment
In an experiment initiated by The Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, Bell donned a baseball cap and played as an incognito busker at the Metro subway station L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C., on January 12, 2007. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; of the 1,097 people who passed by, seven stopped to listen to him, and one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the one who recognized him).[12] Three days earlier, he earned considerably more playing the same repertoire at a concert. Weingarten won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing for his article on the experiment.[33][34]The Washington Post posted the video on YouTube[35] and a feature-length documentary, Find Your Way: A Busker's Documentary, chronicled Bell's experience.[36] A somewhat inaccurate retelling of the story went viral.[37]
