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Penn State College of Arts and Architecture
Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State

Event Slides Per Node 1415

  • A man smiling and with his head cocked slightly down to the left holds a violin and bow in his left hand. “He’s simply one of the best there is.” New York Classical Review
  • A man standing between wood-plank walls rests his arms on a diagonal beam above his head.
  • A man crouches down and rests his elbows on his knees while holding a bow and violin between his legs. “Imaginative, technically gifted, and altogether extraordinary.” Washington Post
  • A musician playing a violin closes his eyes and throws his head back to the left.

Joshua Bell
with Sam Haywood

7:30 pm Thursday, October 11, 2018

“Mr. Bell,” writes a New York Times critic, “doesn’t stand in anyone’s shadow.” The Mr. Bell in question is Joshua Bell, one of the most acclaimed violinists of our time. Bell makes his first Penn State appearance in more than seven years when he performs in recital with British pianist Sam Haywood.

The concert is scheduled to include Johannes Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 2 in A Major, Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in G Major, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major, and additional works announced from the stage.

An exclusive Sony Classical artist, the American violinist has recorded more than forty albums in his career as a soloist, a chamber musician, and a conductor. He has earned Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards and is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize. Since 2011, Bell has been the music director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. He is the only person to hold that post since Sir Neville Marriner created the British orchestra in 1958.

Bell, who has performed for three U.S. presidents, has recorded with artists from various genres, including Chris Botti, Chick Corea, Gloria Estefan, Renée Fleming, Plácido Domingo, Alison Krauss, Jeremy Denk, Steven Isserlis, and Edgar Meyer.

Haywood, originally from England’s Lake District, performs an array of piano repertoire as a soloist, a chamber musician, and a lieder accompanist. He has had a regular duo partnership with Bell since 2010. He also often performs with cellist Isserlis.

“With a lyrical sensitivity honed by his chamber-music performances, pianist Sam Haywood creates melodies scaled to perfection against a patina of swirling accompaniment,” observes a Washington Post reviewer.

The pianist has recorded two solo albums for Hyperion, one featuring piano music by Julius Isserlis (grandfather of Steven Isserlis) and another of Charles Villiers Stanford’s preludes. In 2013, he co-founded the Solent Music Festival. The Lymington-based festival has become an annual event.

Artistic Viewpoints will not be offered before this performance.

Adult $70
University Park Student $25
18 and Younger $53

sponsors
Lynn Sidehamer Brown
Elinor C. Lewis
Dotty Rigby
Kimberly Watkins

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