Joshua Bell to Perform at UA as Part of Celebrity Series

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Joshua Bell will perform in the Moody Music Building Concert Hall at The University of Alabama on Saturday, March 11 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the UA’s School of Music Celebrity Series sponsored by the Gloria Narramore Moody Foundation.

At home as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestra leader and collaborator with MIT’s Tod Machover on the invention of a hyperviolin and electronically enhanced bow, Bell’s talent has proved exceptionally varied. His performance selections are equally varied – from arrangements of compositions by Couperin to those of Bernstein.

Whether it’s a concerto written for him or a cadenza he has written, Bell plays his 1713 Gibson ex Huberman violin with technical skill, artistic grace and sensitive interpretation that fulfill his promise as a child prodigy. How poetic that the musician who performed the music of a fictional red violin in an Academy Award winning film now plays the very Stradivarius that inspired the movie.

“I’d like to do more composing, conducting; it’s endless really,” Bell said. “There’s never at a point where you run out of things to do. I get inspired when there’s an audience and great music to play.”

Single ticket prices for the concert are $22 and $15 for general admission and $7 for students. They are available for purchase at the box office at 205/348-7111.

About the Gloria Narramore Moody Foundation: The Moody Foundation was founded in 1990 by Gloria Moody and her husband, the late Tuscaloosa businessman Frank McCorkle Moody, to support the arts and music.

In addition to bringing world-class performers to Alabama, the Moody Foundation has endowed scholarships at UA and has supported arts organizations elsewhere in the United States.

This is the 17th year that the Moody Foundation has brought internationally acclaimed talent to Alabama and underwritten the performances of world-class performers such as the Guarneri String Quartet, pianist Awadagin Pratt, soprano Benita Valente of the New York Metropolitan Opera, violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma with pianist Emanuel Ax in a joint recital at The University of Alabama.

The UA School of Music is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state with 6,600 students and 360 faculty. Students from the college have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Team.