A biography for Joshua Bellhasn’t been written yet.
“When you play for ticket-holders, you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I'm already accepted.”
“Someone who directs a film, they have to see the overall picture, and they have to get the best performances out of the actors.”
“Art and music is part of what it means to be a human being. And if you're neglecting that, you're basically ignoring a huge side of the brain and a huge side of what it means to be human.”
“I hate YouTube sometimes because people put up things of mine that were never meant for consumption and also because of some of the comments people write about my videos.”
“I hope I will always have the chance to play the violin.”
“I use Facebook quite a lot to keep up with my friends, although I had to delete 'Words With Friends' from my phone because it was wasting too much of my time.”
“It's endless, the amount of things that music touches on that can help kids grow that are very, very practical.”
“Music is such an incredible tool for kids in general. They learn discipline; they learn how to express themselves. You learn math. You learn language. It's the ideal teaching tool, and that's why it's mind-boggling when any school superintendent decides that music is something we can kind of do without.”
“I like trying things, I am kind of adventurous and I like thrill seeking.”
“I grew up in a musical environment. My parents played music and had it playing on the radio. They brought me to a concert at the age of 5, the same age I started violin lessons.”
“Being a director or a conductor is a balance of many things. And to do it right is a very difficult tightrope to walk. I've come to the conclusion that there's really no way to be one hundred percent popular as conductor.”
“When you hear extraneous noise, they are bored in some way, so it makes me upset. Even coughing, I find, is passive-aggressive, usually.”
“The violin sings.”
“Although I hardly ever turn on the TV set unless it's football season, I do watch a lot of TV on my iPad - perfect for long airplane journeys.”
“Over the years, I've seen how being a soloist and having a family can really work.”
“I write arrangements. I'm sort of a wannabe composer.”
“Great music was written by the great geniuses, and you want to do it justice.”
“When you start reading a piece together, you get a sense of someone's basic philosophy of music without saying a word. You realize the other person's approach, how they express themselves, the kind of restraint they show, all those things.”
“No one tells you what to do if you completely flop at the beginning of a performance.”
“I'm having a blast being the music director at the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. It certainly is challenging for me, but I love challenges.”