"He came over to our house to spend the night when he was five or six years old and brought his violin with him and happened to say 'Could we play a piece together?'" said Charles Webb, dean emeritus of the Indiana University School of Music. "Well, our son was also studying the violin at that time and I expected      something similar. And then he took the violin out of the case and played remarkably well even at that age. So, I saw that here was a terrific talent of a young person who ought to go far and he certainly has."

At a mere 32 years of age, Bloomington native Joshua Bell is one of the most recognized and popular concert artists throughout the world. Having studied, performed and recorded much of the canon of concert violin repertoire as well as experimenting in new music of various styles, Bell is also considered an accomplished interpreter of music in addition to being a master technician. Nevertheless, Bell continues to maintain a level of humility, integrity and imagination in his playing that transcends the realm of child prodigy to being a master of the craft.

Bell, who now makes his home in New York City, shall return to the rolling hills of Southern Indiana to perform a special concert at IU. "It's always nice to have an excuse to come to Bloomington because my family lives there and I grew up there so, whenever possible, I love to play there," said Bell. "I also feel closely connected to the University so it's always a special feeling to play at home."

The concert, part of the summer music festival, will feature the collaboration of well as violin soloist and another young master musician, maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson as conductor of Jean Sibelius "Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47" and "Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, op. 14." The concert will be played 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Musical Arts Center

General admission tickets are $ 6 for students and $ 12. Although seemingly unrelated, both pieces show off the soloist -- the violin in the Sibelius and the orchestra itself in the Berlioz. Each piece, highly popular among audiences, also provides a perfect outlet for musical pedagogy making them ideal selections for the School of Music.
 
"It's a great work for orchestras, meaning it shows off every instrument and every section of the orchestra and that's something very important, I think, when you're working with a younger orchestra," said Wilson, a Juliard graduate.

"(Berlioz is) using instruments that have never been used before and all sorts of sounds and combinations of instruments in the orchestra creating these colors that had never been heard before."

Berlioz, a French composer of the early Romantic period, garnered instant fame after the premier of his "Symphonie Fantastique" in 1830. The symphony follows a very specific program, or storyline, which was a musical innovation that had just began recently in music history.

Programmed music has become a staple of the late 20th century. Because most of the classical music written today is in the genre of film score, the music is written to further convey ideas set in the film.

Bell is no stranger to creating music in this venue, as he was the voice of 1999's "The Red Violin."

"Unlike most musical projects, you had the director of the movie having his input, me and the composer, so there are a lot of people saying where they think (the score) needs to go," said Bell of his experience making "The Red Violin." "There's the composer who has his own strictly musical view of the piece which may not always go well with the vision of the director -- so it's a rather complicated process.

Bell, who has recently recorded a CD of new music with friend, bassist and IU grad Edgar Meyer, has attempted to further the art of new music. Yet, as with all things in his life, he remains quite humble when speaking of his contributions to the creation and fostering of new music.

"I do like playing new music. I wouldn't call my self a new music pioneer. It's not my main focus but, I do grab new music projects rather selectively, but whenever I can find a project that looks really interesting I do try to do it," Bell said. While the concert Wednesday will not feature any new music, the two featured selections do represent landmark compositions of their day which, when premiered, took audiences to new levels of musical experience.

"When we perform ('Symphonie Fantastique') in the year 2000, the audience has to keep in perspective that when this music was written it was absolutely shocking to the public. Our ears today have been so exposed to modern music that we're no longer surprised," Wilson said. "It really transcends history. It's still a very impressive work and full of surprises which have made it one of the great works of musical history."

The Sibelius Violin concerto, also a highly motivated and inspirational work, takes the violin and soloist to heightened levels of playing. "(The Sibelius) is beautiful to listen to as an aesthetic product. It's engaging for the audience and the construction of it is quite wonderful," said music professor Mimi Zweig.

Zweig who taught Bell at a young age before he studied with the late renowned professor Josef Gingold, believes Bell to be a world class musician for a multitude of reasons.
 
"He has a conception in his being of how he wants it to go and he has such a vivid imagination and such an intuitive feeling about how music is put together that it comes out in a way that is indescribably beautiful," Zweig said.

While being an observer of Bell as a student and performer, Webb also could see the magic of Bell's musicianship.

"Joshua is one of the most distinguished musicians alive today in my judgement," Webb said. "He obviously has a superb talent, he is a marvelous technician. But, far beyond that, he has a deep introspection into the music. He understands what the composer wants and is able to project the various periods and styles of violin music in a remarkable way.

It is this introspection that makes Bell a master of the violin and of music. But even with a vast range of repertoire under his belt already, Bell has no plans of only staying in the vein of concertizing. Future plans include chamber music, conducting and possibly composing. Until that time, Bell continues to mesmerize audiences worldwide.

"Being inside a piece of music is such an immersive experience," Bell said. "Even if there aren't (audiences) I'd probably just do it for myself anyway. Music is so rewarding it happens to be working for me as a job too which is great. I'm pretty lucky."