The Detroit Symphony could hardly have picked a better symbol for next week's opening of its new season than the vital spirit, the youthful outlook and the fully formed artistry of violinist Joshua Bell.

If classical music is facing a crisis, the 30-year-old Bell, a native of Bloomington, Ind., represents the art's holistic path to recovery. From the precarious state of child prodigy, he has emerged as the genuine article, a true virtuoso - an artist who has earned his stripes and knows himself, no packaging required.

Perhaps with some pride as a fellow native Hoosier, I've watched the flowering of Josh Bell's career since he won the Seventeen Magazine/General Motors violin competition at age 14. Shortly after Bell took that prize, in 1982, I heard him give a recital that had not just brilliance, but vision, stamped all over it.

And lest this sound too much like sideline cheering from a home boy, I hasten to recall the reaction of another critical listener.

Winning the Seventeen competition meant a performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra at a young people's matinee concert. But when conductor Riccardo Muti, then music director in Philadelphia, heard 14-year-old Josh, he converted the performance prize to a regular subscription weekend.

Soon after, the youngster made his Carnegie Hall debut and landed a recording contract with Decca/London. On a steady upward path, Bell nabbed the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant; and along the way, he became not just a mature artist but a centered, self-aware adult.

That last item is no small accomplishment in the glorifying but fickle world of entertainment, of which the classical music business is a certified part. Many a young classical phenom - "prodigy," to invoke an abused term - flashes across the scene only to incinerate and vanish.

Others, like the violinist Midori, may grow as artists but seem to struggle in their personal lives. Then there is the musician who endures as a Madison Avenue commodity, mesmerizing audiences through musicianship as shtick.

Joshua Bell is none of these. Among important musicians his own age, he reminds me most of Leif Ove Andsnes, the Norwegian pianist recently named Gilmore Artist by the international festival in Kalamazoo. Offstage, Bell displays that same rare blend of intelligence, wisdom and composure. He is someone you would like to know.

Maybe that's why it's always a pleasure to hear him play, whether live or on one of his numerous recordings. Beyond the commanding technique and the luscious sound, Bell, who plays the Mendelssohn Concerto here with the DSO conducted by Neeme Jarvi, invariably conveys something of himself. One senses instantly the mind and soul that actuate the art.

In that sense and in the range of his artistry - Bell's recordings include Prokofiev sonatas, concertos by Mozart and Saint-Saens and a new CD of Gershwin arrangements - he brings to mind the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

That may be precisely the way Bell is viewed by the marketing savants at Sony Classical, Ma's own label, which recently lured the violinist away from Decca. Perhaps Sony sees this young master from the heartland as classical music's new poster boy, one who will appeal to the serious side of Generation X.

For its part, the DSO has hitched the new season to a star.