Joshua Bell Sells Out, Sells More Arts Music by Basil Considine - September 30, 2015September 30, 2015 In 2007, virtuoso concert violinist Joshua Bell took his violin to the Washington Metro and began playing. This impromptu performance was a social experiment organized by the Washington Post to see if people would stop and take notice of a highly skilled musician playing in this environment – and to see if anyone would recognize Bell outside of a concert hall. Very few people stopped to listen for long, and exactly one passerby recognized Bell. Violinist Joshua Bell. Photo by Phil Knott, courtesy of joshuabell.com. Seven years later, the Washington Post ran another social experiment, with a little advance publicity, a change of location, and vastly different results: crowds packed Washington, DC’s Union Station to hear Bell give a free concert. What this says about music in American culture is beyond the scope of this piece, but it certainly showed a strong interest in this concert. That strong interest is evident here in Minnesota, where Joshua Bell appears in the Schubert Club’s International Artist Series on Sunday, November 1. When single tickets for the performance first went on sale (subscribers get their tickets earlier), the seats in the Ordway’s Music Theater sold out in just a few days. A block of 60 on-stage seats added to meet the audience demand was insufficient, and also sold out in short order, putting the remaining concertgoers into a territory more common in bygone centuries than today: standing room. According to the Schubert Club’s Tessa Jones, “just a handful” of standing room spots remained as of press time. How’s that for a turnaround? About Latest Posts Basil ConsidineBasil Considine was the Editor of the Twin Cities Arts Reader from 2018-2022. He served as Performing Arts Editor and Senior Classical Music and Drama Critic for the Arts Reader's first five years, before succeeding Hanne Appelbaum. He was previously the Resident Classical Music and Drama Critic at the Twin Cities Daily Planet and remains an occasional contributing writer for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and The Chattanoogan. He holds a PhD in Music and Drama from Boston University, an MTS in Sacred Music from the BU School of Theology, and a BA in Music and Theatre from the University of San Diego. Basil was named one of Musical America's 30 Professionals of the Year in 2017. He was previously the Regional Governor for the National Opera Association's North Central Region and the 2021-2022 U.S. Fulbright Faculty Scholar to Madagascar. Latest posts by Basil Considine (see all) REVIEW: Moving, Funny, Striking English (Guthrie Theater) - July 22, 2024 REVIEW: The Time for Newsies is Now (Artistry) - July 21, 2024 PREVIEW: Behind the Story – Before Out of the Box Opera’s Suor Angelica - June 24, 2024 Share on Facebook Share Share on TwitterTweet