Joshua David Bell was born on 9 December 1967, in Bloomington, Indiana USA, of Scottish and Jewish descent. Joshua is a conductor and violinist, well known for his performances with various orchestras around the world. He’s been awarded numerous times and was also featured in a Washington Post experiment. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Joshua Bell? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $15 million, mostly earned through a successful career in music. He’s made many high profile performances, including in collaboration with other musicians. He’s also appeared in various television and film productions. As he continues his career, it is expected that his wealth will increase.
Joshua Bell Net Worth $15 million
Bell started learning the violin at the age of four, when his mother discovered that he was trying to emulate piano music by using stretched rubber bands. He was given a violin and started taking lessons, though he was also focused on other things such as sports. He studied under Donna Bricht and Mimi Zweig before learning from Josef Gingold. Despite the fact that his parents weren’t truly pushing him towards a career as a violinist, Gingold inspired Bell to pursue the instrument, so that at the age of 14, he appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a solo violinist. He also attended Indiana University Jacobs School of Music to study the violin. In 1989, he achieved an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance and then a Distinguished Alumni Service Award two years after graduating from the school.
In 1985 at the age of 17, Joshua made his debut at Carnegie Hall with the St. Louis Symphony. Since then, he’s performed around the world and written numerous compositions. He took part in the film “The Red Violin” and “Ladies in Lavender”, and also made a guest appearance in “Music fo the Heart”. He is an artistic partner for the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and also collaborates with film composer Hans Zimmer.
He received an Academy Award nomination for his performance of the song “Before My Time” for the documentary “Chasing Ice”. Aside from those, he was named as the Music Director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in London, and was also awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. One of his latest works is being part of an episode of “Royal Pains”. All have contributed to his net worth.
Bell plays a 300-year-old violin called Gibson ex Huberman – the instrument has been stolen twice but recovered. The violin was about to be sold for a collection and Joshua then decided to sell his Tom Taylor Stradivarius violin for $2 million in order to buy the violin for a little under four million dollars. The events are told in the documentary “The Return of the Violin”.
Aside from that, Bell participated in a Washington Post experiment in which he played incognito at a subway station in Washington DC. Despite his performance that could be worth significantly more in orchestra performances, he only gathered $32 and only one person knew who he was. The article and experiment would win a Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing. The experiment is also posted on YouTube, called “Find Your Way, A Busker Documentary”.
For his personal life, it is known that Joshua has three children born to former girlfriend Lisa Matricardi. He currently resides in Gramercy Park, Manhattan, New York.
Avery Fisher Prize, Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album, Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra), Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical
Music Groups
National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America
Nominations
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program
Movies
Orchestra of Exiles, Verbier Festival: Highlights 2008, Martha Argerich: Live at Verbier Festival: 2007-2008
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Quote
1
[on dealing with security issues for his $4 million Stradivarius] The last time it was stolen [1936], it was gone for fifty years. The thief confessed on his deathbed. He was a violinist and he covered it in shoe polish and played on it his whole life. But it's the best investment I've ever made, although I'll never see the profits because I will die with this in my hands. Traveling with it is like traveling with a baby. It's irreplaceable, but it won't spontaneously combust.
2
I like blackjack. I like the psychology of poker. I'm addicted to the adrenaline of performing, and I think when you're used to having that high, you look for it in other things. Violinists are notorious gamblers [Henryk] Wieniawski and [Niccolo] Paganini lost their violins gambling.
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Fact
1
Currently on a world tour [March 2002]
2
Joining his alma mater Indiana University's renowned Jacobs School of Music as a faculty member [2008]
3
On January 12, 2007, with Washington Post Staff Writer Gene Weingarten, he pretended he was a violin street busker at a Washington, D.C. subway stop as an experiment to see if people would pay attention in their rush to get to work at 8 a.m. in the morning.
4
Graduated from Indiana University.
5
Was named one of People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in May 2000.
Music Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Spise med Price
2014
TV Series documentary music - 1 episode
For Colored Girls
2010
musician: violin solos
Angels & Demons
2009
musician: violin solos
Defiance
2008/I
musician: violin solos
Silk
2007
musician: violin
Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
2005
musician: violin solos
Ladies in Lavender
2004
musician: violin
Iris
2001/I
musician: solo violin
Great Performances
2001
TV Series musician - 1 episode
The Red Violin
1998
music consultant / musician: solo violin
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Bi no tsubo
TV Series 1 episode, 2013 performer - 1 episode, 2013
The 85th Annual Academy Awards
2013
TV Special performer: "Before My Time"
Orchestra of Exiles
2012
Documentary performer: "Viloin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77: 1. Allegro" [sic], "Sonata for Violin and Piano in A: IV. Allegretto Poco Mosso"
Chasing Ice
2012
Documentary "Before My Time" / performer: "Before My Time"
The War
2007
TV Mini-Series documentary performer - 1 episode
Ladies in Lavender
2004
performer: "Carnival of Venice" ca1829, "Meditation" 1894, "Zabawa Weselna", "The Girl With The Flaxen Hair", "Introduction and Tarantelle Op. 43" as "Introduction and Tarantelle", "Fuga from Sonata No.1 in G Minor BWV 1001" 1720 as "Fuga from Sonata No.1"
Music of the Heart
1999
performer: "Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins"
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Royal Pains
2016
TV Series
Joshua Bell
Mozart in the Jungle
2014-2015
TV Series
Joshua Bell
Ladies in Lavender
2004
Violinist for Andrea (uncredited)
The Red Violin
1998
Violinist (Oxford) (uncredited)
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Eye
2008
special thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Julie's Greenroom
2017
TV Series filming
Himself
Home & Family
2016
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
Tavis Smiley
2008-2016
TV Series
Himself / Himself - Guest
Maestro
2015
Documentary
Himself
Find Your Way: A Busker's Documentary
2014
Documentary
Himself
Frankie Moreno: Songs at Home, with Special Guest Joshua Bell
2014
TV Movie
Himself
The Queen Latifah Show
2013
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
Huckabee
2013
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
My Music: Classical Rewind
2013
TV Movie
Himself
¡Atención obras!
2013
TV Series
Himself
BBC Proms
2013
TV Series
Himself - Violinist
Michael Feinstein's American Songbook
2013
TV Mini-Series documentary
Himself
Orchestra of Exiles
2012
Documentary
Himself
From Dust to Dreams: Opening Night at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts
2012
TV Movie
Himself
Joshua Bell Plays Mendelssohn and Meyer
2012
Video
Himself
CBS This Morning
2012
TV Series
Himself
Violin Masters: Two Gentlemen of Cremona
2010
Documentary
Himself
Bach & Friends
2010
Documentary
Profil, Poveste, Personaj
2010
TV Series
Himself
Live from Lincoln Center
2004-2010
TV Series
Himself / Himself - Violinist
In Search of the Messiah
2009
Documentary
Himself
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
2009
TV Series
Himself - Musical Guest
Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon
2008-2009
TV Series
Himself - Performer / Himself
The Music Tree
2009
Documentary
Interview
Stand Up to Cancer
2008
TV Movie
Himself
From the Top at Carnegie Hall
2007
TV Series
Himself
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
2001-2006
TV Series
Himself
The Megan Mullally Show
2006
TV Series
Himself
Breakfast with the Arts
2006
TV Series
Himself
Eine große Nachtmusik
2006
TV Series
Himself
Love Monkey
2006
TV Series
Himself
Circling Around: The Violin Virtuosi
2006
TV Movie documentary
Former Violin Virtuosi Member
The 46th Annual Grammy Awards
2004
TV Special
Himself - Presenter
Sesame Street
2004
TV Series
Himself
The 44th Annual Grammy Awards
2002
TV Special
Himself
Great Performances
2001
TV Series
Himself - Performer
The Martin Short Show
1999
TV Series
Himself
Music of the Heart
1999
Himself
Biography
1995
TV Series documentary
Himself
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1989
TV Series
Himself
PBS NewsHour
1987
TV Series
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
The 85th Annual Academy Awards
2013
TV Special
Himself - Performer: Before My Time
Nominated Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2002
Primetime Emmy
Primetime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program
Great Performances (1971)
Known for movies
Music of the Heart (1999) as Himself
The Red Violin (1998) as Music Department
Angels & Demons (2009) as Music Department
The 46th Annual Grammy Awards (2004) as Himself - Presenter