An Evening with Joshua Bell Thursday, October 10 • The Ware Center

Welcome, friend of the arts

We are thrilled to welcome you to a once-in-a-lifetime benefit concert. Tonight, you will have the chance to hear one of the world's most celebrated artists in the acoustically perfect, 350-seat Steinman Hall, which boasts state-of-the-art sound and acoustics designed by acoustical engineering legend Cyril M. Harris.

Joshua Bell

With a career spanning almost four decades, GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated artists of his era. Having performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, Bell continues to maintain engagements as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Bell’s highlights in the 2023-24 season include an international tour of his newly commissioned project, The Elements, featuring works by renowned living composers. Bell released his new album on Sony Classical, Butterfly Lovers, in summer 2023. Bell also led the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on tour in Australia and throughout the United States. He appeared as artist-in-residence with the NDR Elbphilharmonie, and as guest artist with the New Jersey Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Philadelphia Orchestra, and more.

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell began playing the violin at age 4, and at age 12, began studies with his mentor, Josef Gingold. At age 14, Bell debuted with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 17 with the St. Louis Symphony. At age 18, Bell signed with his first label, London Decca, and received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. In the following decades, Bell has been nominated for six GRAMMY® awards, named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America, a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and has received the Avery Fisher Prize. He also received the 2003 Indiana Governor’s Arts Award and in 2000 was named an “Indiana Living Legend.”

Bell has performed for three American presidents and the justices of the Supreme Court. Bell also participated in President Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities’ mission to Cuba, performing on an Emmy-nominated PBS Live from Lincoln Center special; Joshua Bell: Seasons of Cuba, celebrating renewed diplomacy between Cuba and the United States.

Peter Dugan

Pianist Peter Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” He is heard nationwide as the host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top. He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad. This year he makes his debuts at Wigmore Hall and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and can be heard as the piano soloist on a new release of Ives’ Fourth Symphony from Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, a recording which the New York Times named one of the top classical albums of 2019 . Prizing versatility as the key to the future of classical music, Mr. Dugan is equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms.

A sought-after multi-genre artist, Mr. Dugan has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. The Wall Street Journal described Mr. Dugan’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” Mr. Dugan has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Moab Music Festival, and recently in recital with Joshua Bell at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival. He was the 2019 featured recitalist for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, New World Symphony, and Mid-Texas Symphony.

His debut album with baritone John Brancy – A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song – pays homage to composers who lived through, fought in, and died in the Great War. Brancy and Dugan toured this program across North America in commemoration of the centennial of WWI, including performances at The Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Stanford University, the United States Naval Academy, and the Smithsonian Institute. Together Brancy and Dugan won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition.

Mr. Dugan advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society. As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good.

Mr. Dugan holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at the Juilliard School Evening Division. Mr. Dugan is a Yamaha Artist.

Repertoire

Mozart Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 21 in E minor

Schubert: Fantasy in C Major for Violin and Piano, Op. posth. 159, D. 934

Intermission

Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13

• I. Allegro molto
• II. Andante
• III. Scherzo: Allegro vivo
• IV. Finale: Allegro quasi presto

Additional selections will be announced on stage by the artist.

Thank you to our Partners

Our sincere gratitude and appreciation to the partners who made this incredible evening possible:

Platinum Partner

Paul & Judy Ware

Luminary Donors

• Frederick & Heike Bloom
• Dennis Denenberg
• Ron & Virginia Ettelman
• John & Susan Garofola
• Bill Haynes & Patty Smedley
• Dr. Francine McNairy
• Clark McSparren
• Robert & Jennifer Mohler
• Roger & Judy Sandt
• Robert Shoener & Alan Wyand
• Pete & Kit Slaugh

VIP Reception Partner

Robert Bowman & Christine Kennedy

Acknowledgments

Joshua Bell appears by arrangement with Park Avenue Artists and Primo Artists. Mr. Bell records exclusively for Sony Classical - a MASTERWORKS label.

Coming Next

Get a sneak peek of what's coming next this season - then, check out the full list of upcoming events!

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