This winter/spring, Joshua Bell tours U.S. & Europe as MD of Academy of St Martin in the Fields; highlights include rare appearance with ASMF at NYC’s Carnegie Hall
(January 2026) — As his three multifaceted orchestral roles attest, Grammy winner Joshua Bell is not only one of the foremost violinists of our time, but also a master of leadership and collaboration. Now in his 14th season as Music Director of London’s Academy of St Martin in the Fields, early this year he helms the orchestra on extensive tours of both the States and Europe. This spring, they make their first appearance together in almost two decades at New York’s Carnegie Hall (March 5), return to San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall (March 1), and perform at the key venues of 13 additional cities in California, Virginia, Maryland, Michigan, Iowa, and Florida (Feb 24–March 16), following a winter tour of the great concert halls of Hamburg, Hannover, Essen, Luxembourg, Stuttgart, Erlangen, Vienna, Frankfurt, Cologne, and London (Jan 8–20). Back in North America, Bell completes his season-long tenure as the Toronto Symphony’s Spotlight Artist (March 26–29) and gives his first performances as the inaugural Principal Guest Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony (May 14–17).
Over the coming months, Bell also champions his five-movement commissioning project, The Elements, with three North American orchestras, and performs chamber music on three continents with artists including Jeremy Denk, Steven Isserlis, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, and Mischa Maisky. This full schedule follows a string of recent successes. Through his Diapason d’Or-winning world premiere recording and live world, North American, Canadian, and UK premiere performances, Bell proved himself “the most visible champion” (The New York Times) of Thomas de Hartmann’s newly rediscovered Violin Concerto. Released in August as a Sony Classical single, his recording of his own arrangement of Chopin’s Nocturne in E-flat is an ongoing viral sensation. Finally, in October, Bell was made an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), conferred for his services to music by King Charles III.
U.S. & European tours with Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Since succeeding Sir Neville Marriner as Music Director of London’s Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) in 2011, Bell has “brought a new bite and vigour to the band’s well-established aristocratic nobility,” which makes for “captivating music-making” (The Scotsman). Indeed, the success of their multifaceted partnership has been recognized with a Grammy nomination and the extension of Bell’s contract through the 2027-28 season. As the UK’s Arts Desk puts it: “Who needs a conductor with a leader-soloist of this calibre?”
Bell and the British orchestra have already won favor in the United States as well. On their last U.S. tour, their San Francisco performance drew a five-star review from Bachtrack, which marveled:
“What was unique about Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ concert … was its depth and delivery of life. … It was as if the music expanded as it unfolded, and we were elasticized by it, ready to go wherever it led. Bell and the orchestra in perfect tandem, Bell’s playing itself becoming the conductor as he plied his bow. … Clearly, the ASMF is a vibrant, living unit, each section tightly connected to its counterparts.”
On their upcoming return to the States, Bell and the ASMF showcase his strengths as both leader and collaborator with three programs, each featuring a symphony, led by Bell from the violin, and a concerto, featuring himself as soloist. All three programs open with an original arrangement of Ives’s Variations on “America,” newly commissioned by the orchestra to mark America250, this year’s nationwide celebration of U.S. independence. Based on Ives’s own arrangement of a traditional tune, familiar to U.S. audiences as “America (My Country, ’Tis of Thee)” and to British ones as their national anthem, ASMF’s new arrangement is by distinguished British composer-arranger Iain Farrington.
For Bell’s first appearance as Music Director of the ASMF at New York’s Carnegie Hall (March 5), and for his dates with the orchestra in Northridge, CA (Feb 26); Davis, CA (Feb 28); Charlottesville, VA (March 3); North Bethesda, MD (March 6), and at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall (March 1), he combines the new arrangement of Ives’s patriotic piece with Schumann’s First Symphony (“Spring”) and Brahms’s sole Violin Concerto. By contrast, in Palm Springs, CA (Feb 24); Aliso Viejo, CA (Feb 27); Newport News, VA (March 7); Virginia Beach, VA (March 8); Saginaw, MI (March 10); Iowa City (March 11); and Sarasota, FL (March 15), Bell and the orchestra follow Farrington’s arrangement with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony and Saint-Saëns’s Third Violin Concerto. In Miami (March 14) and Vero Beach, FL (March 16), they complement the new arrangement with Schumann and Saint-Saëns, as at their forthcoming appearance at Colorado’s Bravo! Vail festival this summer.
These U.S. dates mark Bell’s second international tour with the orchestra this year. Taking them to Hamburg (Jan 8), Hannover (Jan 9), Essen (Jan 11), Luxembourg (Jan 12), Stuttgart (Jan 13), Erlangen (Jan 14), Vienna (Jan 15), Frankfurt (Jan 17), Cologne (Jan 18), and London (Jan 20), their European tour programs feature Schumann’s “Spring” Symphony, led by Bell from the violin, and two concertante works, for both of which he takes center stage: Brahms’s Violin Concerto and Kevin Puts’s Earth, the opening movement of the violinist’s commissioned suite The Elements. Describing Earth as “accessible, focused, and memorable,” the Chicago Classical Review found that Bell’s “playing was never overly showy or ostentatious but was in service to the music at all times.”
Multifaceted roles with Toronto & New Jersey Symphonies
Two North American orchestral roles further exemplify Bell’s gifts as a leader and collaborator. He currently serves as a 2025-26 Spotlight Artist of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. To complete this season-long tenure, he joins the orchestra for spring concerts that showcase his strengths as both conductor and soloist, combining Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, a work for which, as The New York Times puts it, there is “no finer, more persuasive advocate,” with an orchestral arrangement of Adoration by Florence Price and both the Egmont Overture and Seventh Symphony by Beethoven (March 26, 28, & 29). The present season also marks Bell’s first as the inaugural Principal Guest Conductor of the New Jersey Symphony. To kick off this new appointment, he conducts Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, leads the same composer’s Hebrides Overture from the violin, and takes center stage for Saint-Saëns’s Third Violin Concerto on a Garden State tour of Newark (May 14 & 16), Princeton (May 15), and Morristown (May 17).
The Elements in North America
For returns to Florida’s Naples Philharmonic (April 2–4), Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra (April 8 & 9), and the Houston Symphony (May 7, 9, & 10), Bell reprises The Elements, the suite he commissioned from five American composers at the top of their game: Jake Heggie, Musical America’s 2024 Composer of the Year; Jessie Montgomery, Performance Today’s 2025 Classical Woman of the Year; seven-time Grammy winner Edgar Meyer; and Pulitzer Prize laureates Jennifer Higdon and Kevin Puts. Since Bell gave its first performances in the 2023-24 season, the concerto has been warmly received. The San Francisco Classical Voice praised its “beauty and atmosphere,” while the Financial Times concluded:
“Even for composers known for their way with a lyrical line and satisfying harmonies, the fit between the movements was remarkable. Each was imaginative and distinctive while also flowing naturally from one to the other. … Bell play[ed] with his typical singing tone, with long, elegant phrases even in the fastest music.”
Verbier in China & other chamber collaborations
Bell completes his orchestral lineup with an account of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, for which he directs the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra from the violin in Shenzhen, China (Feb 2). This opens his three-concert residency at the inaugural Winter Asian Chapter of the Verbier Festival, where he also joins fellow superstars Lang Lang and Mischa Maisky for Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor (Feb 4) and Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson for violin and piano sonatas by Grieg and Prokofiev (Feb 5).
A dedicated recitalist and chamber artist, Bell rounds out the spring season with additional solo and chamber performances on both sides of the Atlantic. Highlights include duo recitals with Avery Fisher Prize-winning pianist Jeremy Denk at Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (June 3) and Illinois’s Ravinia Festival (June 5), and piano trios by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, and Solomon Rosowsky with British cellist Steven Isserlis and Grammy-winning Russian-born pianist Evgeny Kissin, both in Kansas City (May 28) and at Carnegie Hall (May 31). Denk and Isserlis are regular chamber partners of Bell’s, and the three recently reunited at New York’s 92nd Street Y for works by Fauré, whose chamber music they have recorded for future release. In 2024, after a similar program at Aspen, Seen and Heard International reported:
“Their camaraderie and musical unanimity brought extra depth to an evening of Fauré chamber music. … At times the combined sound … approached the richness of a full orchestra in Fauré’s ultra-Romantic harmonic and melodic style.”
Bell also rejoins Alasdair Beatson for sonatas by Schubert, Grieg, and Prokofiev in Barcelona (Feb 11), London (Feb 13), and Oslo (Feb 15); tours the U.S. with pianist Shai Wosner, appearing in San Francisco (April 19), Orem, UT (April 21), Carmel, IN (April 23), Kalamazoo, MI (April 24), and Boston (April 26); and performs his special “Voice and the Violin” program with his wife, soprano Larisa Martínez, in Urbana, IL (April 17).
Chopin single success
Beyond the concert hall, Bell is an exclusive Sony Classical artist who has recorded more than 40 albums, winning Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, Diapason D’Or, and Opus Klassik awards. Most recently, he expanded this catalogue on August 22 with the release of Chopin: Nocturne in E-flat, a new single recorded with Krzysztof Urbański and Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Capturing Bell’s own new arrangement of the piano piece for violin and strings, the recording has already been streamed more than one million times.
Rediscovered de Hartmann concerto success
A leading proponent of rediscovery, Bell played a major part in bringing to light the long-lost Violin Concerto by Ukrainian-born composer Thomas de Hartmann (1884–1956). After partnering with Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska to make the work’s Diapason d’Or-winning world premiere recording for Pentatone, last summer and fall he went on to give the concerto’s UK premiere at London’s BBC Proms, North American premiere with the New York Philharmonic, Canadian premiere with the Toronto Symphony, and performances with the Boston Symphony and Oslo Philharmonic. The New York Times writes:
“Bell has become the concerto’s most visible champion. His recent recording, with the conductor Dalia Stasevska and the INSO Lviv Symphony Orchestra, reveals a work steeped in archetypal folk melody, driving rhythm and the wistful harmonies of late Romanticism.”
At the UK premiere, Seen and Heard International observed:
“Bell (playing from a handwritten score) made every compelling argument he could for the concerto: his tone could not have been more beautiful to the ear (and what a large, full tone he makes), and the virtuosity was simply astounding: tempestuous, pounding dance rhythms, brilliant syncopations on the instrument, and there was a wonderful glaze to his sound when playing the slow movement, the music almost hypnotically done. The final movement brought an electrifying freneticism to Bell’s playing – all with astonishing purity of sound.”
The Classical Source concluded after the same performance, “The Violin Concerto could not have wished for a greater champion than Joshua Bell.”
After the Toronto performance, the Toronto Guardian affirmed:
“The de Hartmann is a marvellous work, surprising, I think, many … with its beautiful, enthralling nature. From its opening Largo–Allegro through its rousing Finale, Thursday’s performance was a strong argument for its entry into the repertoire.”
With Stasevska and the New York Philharmonic, “Bell’s lower register emerged with great songfulness. … Conductor and soloist gelled beautifully for maximum expression” (Blog Critics). Similarly, with Anna Handler and the Boston Symphony, the Boston Musical Intelligencer noted:
“Ever the master craftsman, Bell was elegant as he drew the music from his instrument with intense precision and passion blending with the BSO meticulously. He seemed to summon the score through his fingers as well as his facial expressions: his attack deft and pristine. Combined, Bell and the BSO evoked a romantic ambiance that was hypnotic. They moved in unison like seasoned dancers.”
Joshua Bell: upcoming engagements
Jan 8–20: European tour with Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Jan 8: Hamburg, Germany (Program 1)
Jan 9: Hannover, Germany (Program 1)
Jan 11: Essen, Germany (Program 1)
Jan 12: Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (Program 2)
Jan 13: Stuttgart, Germany (Program 1)
Jan 14: Erlangen, Germany (Program 3)
Jan 15: Vienna, Austria (Konzerthaus; Program 1)
Jan 17: Frankfurt, Germany (Program 1)
Jan 18: Cologne, Germany (Program 1)
Jan 20: London, UK (Program 1)
Program 1:
Kevin PUTS: Earth (from The Elements)
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto
R. SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1, “Spring”
Program 2:
Kevin PUTS: Earth (from The Elements)
SAINT-SAËNS: Violin Concerto No. 3
R. SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1, “Spring”
Program 3:
Kevin PUTS: Earth (from The Elements)
MOZART: Symphony No. 25
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto
Feb 2–5
Shenzhen, China
Verbier Festival in Shenzhen
Feb 2
Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto
Feb 4
MENDELSSOHN: Piano Trio in D minor (with Lang Lang, piano; Mischa Maisky, cello)
Feb 5
Recital with Alasdair Beatson, piano
GRIEG: Violin Sonata No. 3
PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D
Feb 11–15: European recital tour with Alasdair Beatson, piano
Feb 11: Barcelona, Spain (Palau de la Música)
Feb 13: London, UK (Wigmore Hall)
Feb 15: Oslo, Norway (Oslo Opera House)
Program to include:
SCHUBERT: Violin Sonata in A, “Grand Duo”
GRIEG: Sonata No. 3 in C minor
PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D
Feb 24–March 16: U.S. tour with Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Feb 24: Palm Springs, CA (Program 2)
Feb 26: Northridge, CA (Program 1)
Feb 27: Aliso Viejo, CA (Program 2)
Feb 28: Davis, CA (Program 1)
March 1: San Francisco, CA (Program 1)
March 3: Charlottesville, VA (Program 1)
March 5: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall; Program 1)
March 6: North Bethesda, MD (Program 1)
March 7: Newport News, VA (Program 2)
March 8: Virginia Beach, VA (Program 2)
March 10: Saginaw, MI (Program 2)
March 11: Iowa City, IA (Program 2)
March 14: Miami, FL (Program 3)
March 15: Sarasota, FL (Program 2)
March 16: Vero Beach, FL (Program 3)
Program 1:
IVES (arr. Iain FARRINGTON): Variations on “America” (new ASMF commission for America250)
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto
R. SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1, “Spring”
Program 2:
IVES (arr. Iain FARRINGTON): Variations on “America” (new ASMF commission for America250)
SAINT-SAËNS: Violin Concerto No. 3
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 8
Program 3:
IVES (arr. Iain FARRINGTON): Variations on “America” (new ASMF commission for America250)
SAINT-SAËNS: Violin Concerto No. 3
R. SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 1, “Spring”
March 26, 28 & 29
Toronto, Canada
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Overture to Egmont
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1
PRICE (orch. Jim Gray): Adoration
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7
April 2–4
Naples, FL
Naples Philharmonic / Alexander Shelley
The Elements (Kevin PUTS: Earth; Edgar MEYER: Water; Jennifer HIGDON: Air; Jake HEGGIE: Fire; Jessie MONTGOMERY: Space; Kevin PUTS: Earth [Reprise & Finale])
April 8 & 9
Ottawa, Canada
National Arts Centre Orchestra / Alexander Shelley
The Elements (Kevin PUTS: Earth; Edgar MEYER: Water; Jennifer HIGDON: Air; Jake HEGGIE: Fire; Jessie MONTGOMERY: Space; Kevin PUTS: Earth [Reprise & Finale])
April 17
Urbana, IL (Krannert Center)
“Voice and the Violin”
Recital with Larisa Martínez, soprano, and Peter Dugan, piano
April 19–26: U.S. recital tour with Shai Wosner, piano
April 19: San Francisco, CA (Davies Symphony Hall)
April 21: Orem, UT (Noorda Center for the Performing Arts)
April 23: Carmel, IN (Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts)
April 24: Kalamazoo, MI (Gilmore Piano Festival)
April 26: Boston, MA (Celebrity Series of Boston; Symphony Hall)
Program to include:
SCHUBERT: Violin Sonata in A, “Grand Duo”
GRIEG: Sonata No. 3 in C minor
PROKOFIEV: Violin Sonata No. 2 in D
May 7, 9, & 10
Houston, TX
Houston Symphony / Juraj Valčuha
The Elements (Kevin PUTS: Earth; Edgar MEYER: Water; Jennifer HIGDON: Air; Jake HEGGIE: Fire; Jessie MONTGOMERY: Space; Kevin PUTS: Earth [Reprise & Finale])
May 14–17: New Jersey tour with New Jersey Symphony
May 14: Newark, NJ
May 15: Princeton, NJ
May 16: Newark, NJ
May 17: Morristown, NJ
MENDELSSOHN: Hebrides Overture
SAINT-SAËNS: Violin Concerto No. 3
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 4, “Italian”
May 28 & 31: U.S. dates with Steven Isserlis, cello; Evgeny Kissin, piano
May 28: Kansas City, MO (Harriman-Jewell Series)
May 31: New York, NY (Carnegie Hall)
ROSOWSKY: Fantastic Dance on Hebrew Themes for piano trio
SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor
TCHAIKOVSKY: Piano Trio in A minor
June 3 & 5: U.S. duo recitals with Jeremy Denk, piano
June 3: Los Angeles, CA (Walt Disney Concert Hall; Colburn Celebrity Recital)
June 5: Highland Park, IL (Ravinia Festival)