Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, artists much loved by Arsht Center audiences, make their eagerly awaited return to the Knight Concert Hall with a program of favorite works by favorite composers. Audiences around the globe have cheered the phenomenal violinist Bell as soloist and conductor, and in the Knight Concert Hall, Bell will play both roles in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. With its irresistible melodic verve and rhythmic drive, this essential masterpiece of Romantic music is a dazzling showcase for Bell’s trademark emotional depth and unstoppable virtuosity. 

Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 opens with a heroic introduction, followed by a thrilling scherzo, a gorgeous adagio and a gloriously triumphant finale. In other words, it is the quintessential Romantic symphony, and one of the composer’s grandest orchestral creations. 

First but not least, Bell and the Academy launch their program with Mozart’s sparkling The Marriage of Figaro Overture, a breathless, four-minute delight that previews the scintillating and sardonic humor of Mozart’s operatic masterpiece. 

Since its founding in 1958, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields has been one of the world’s finest chamber orchestras, renowned for fresh, brilliant interpretations of the world’s greatest orchestral music. When the virtuoso Bell was named the ensemble’s music director in 2011, it was a marriage ordained by the gods of music. The winning combination has produced a dazzling ensemble that retains the collegial spirit and flexibility of the original small, conductor-less chamber orchestra with playing that is marked by “propulsive energy” (South Florida Classical Review), “glowing interpretations” (The Washington Post, and a “precision that is staggering from the first downbeat” (Palm Beach Daily News).