Joshua Bell was born on December 9, 1967 in Bloomington, Indiana. When he was only 4 years old, he started to show interest in music. His parents gave him a violin when he was 5 and he picked it up quickly. In 1979, after attending Meadowmount for the summer, Joseph Gingold (the world renowned violinist) became his private instructor. In 1981, he won the Seventeen Magazine/General Motors competition and made his orchestral debut with Ricardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Not long after, he played at Carnegie Hall and won an Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has been recording albums since 1987 and tours internationally, performing over one hundred concerts a year. He has preformed for the following orchestras: National Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the London Symphony and has worked for the following conductors: Vladimir Ashkenazy, Charles Dutoit, John Eliot Gardiner, John Williams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph von Dohnanyi, and James Levine. When Joshua is not touring, he likes to relax in New York City, where he currently lives. He enjoys tennis, golf, basketball, chess, and computers. On top of his amazing accomplishments he has also got an Artist Diploma from Indiana University.