Superstar violinist Joshua Bell will perform with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in its long-anticipated return to Meadow Brook Music Festival presented by the Oakland University Credit Union on July 24 at 7:30 p.m. The performance commemorates the storied venue’s 50th anniversary, which opened as the DSO’s summer home in 1964. Conducted by Kansas City Symphony Music Director Michael Stern, the program will feature Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila Overture and Kodaly’s Dances of Galanta, with Bell performing Ravel’s Tzigane and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Tickets to Detroit Symphony Orchestra featuring Joshua Bell go on are available online at dso.org and palacenet.com, by phone at 313.576.5111 or at the Max M. Fisher Box Office at 3711 Woodward Ave. in Detroit or The Palace Ticket Store and all Ticketmaster locations. Tickets may be also charged by phone to American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard by calling 800.745.3000. Lawn seats are $15 and Pavilion seats begin at $25. A limited number of lawn 4-packs will be available for $44.

Bell’s performance with the DSO was made possible in part by presenting sponsor, Oakland University Credit Union, and a generous gift from Jane and Larry Sherman. Other sponsors include the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Palace Sports & Entertainment.

Known as the "poet of the violin," Bell is one of the world's most celebrated violinists and a frequent collaborator with the DSO who last performed with the ensemble in September 2012. This 50th anniversary performance at Meadow Brook will be Detroit audiences’ only chance to hear him live with the DSO for at least a year. Of course, he continues to enchant audiences with his breathtaking virtuosity, tone of sheer beauty, and charismatic stage presence, earning him the rare title of "classical music superstar." Recently named the Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bell is the first person to hold this post since Sir Neville Marriner formed the orchestra in 1958.

A native of Bloomington, Indiana, Bell, who received his first violin when he was 4-years-old,was first nationally recognized as a teen in his debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His Carnegie Hall debut, an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a notable recording contract established his presence in classical music.

Bell, an exclusive Sony Classical artist, has recorded more than 40 CDs since his first recording at age 18 on the Decca Label.In 1989, Bell received an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance from Indiana University, where he currently serves as a senior lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music. Indiana University awarded Bell with a Distinguished Alumni Service Award; he’s also been named an “Indiana Living Legend” and is the recipient of the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award.

Kansas City Symphony Music Director Michael Stern is in his eighth season with the orchestra, hailed for its remarkable artistic ascent, original programming, organizational development and stability, and the extraordinary growth of its varied audiences since his tenure began. Over the last three seasons, Stern and the orchestra have ushered in a new era and have performed to critical acclaim and sold-out audiences in their new home Helzberg Hall at the $400 million Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts.

To date, Stern and the Kansas City Symphony have successfully partnered with Reference Recordings to produce four albums: Shakespeare’s Tempest; Britten’s Orchestra, which won a 2011 Grammy award in the “Surround Sound Album” category and producer David Frost won “Producer of the Year, Classical;” an Elgar/Vaughan Williams project; and most recently Miraculous Metamorphoses, featuring the music of Hindemith, Prokofiev and Bartók. Reference Recordings has slated a Saint-Saëns album for later release.

In June 2014, Stern and the Symphony will record Adam Schoenberg’s Finding Rothko, Picture Studies and American Symphony, all commissioned by Stern. In July 2012, the Symphony’s concerts with internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato were broadcast nationally on nearly 400 PBS station for the PBS Summer Arts Series. The Grammy-nominated audio recording of that concert is available on iTunes.

Meadow Brook Music Festival, on the campus of Oakland University, opened in 1964 on property originally owned by automotive industry pioneer John F. Dodge and donated by his widow Matilda Dodge Wilson. It was the exclusive summer residence of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in its first four seasons until the Festival’s schedule was broadened in 1968 to include ballet. By the early 1970s rock and pop concerts were added to the summer lineup.

Since then Meadow Brook’s existing buildings and stage have been updated with various improvements, including expanded pavilion seating, new concessions and an upgraded sound system. Today, contemporary pop and rock concerts, nationally known comedians and family events are hallmarks of the Festival’s unique ambiance for all generations. Palace Sports & Entertainment assumed management, marketing and booking of the 7,700-capacity Meadow Brook amphitheater in the mid-1990s. 

Through 2010, the DSO has performed in as many as eight concerts each year at Meadow Brook Music Festival. The orchestra returned in 2013 with two events; Yo-Yo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Sessions and George Benson’s performance with the DSO, a tribute to Nat King Cole.

ABOUT THE DSO: The internationally acclaimed Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in December 2012, is known for trailblazing performances, visionary maestros, collaborations with the world’s foremost musical artists, and an unwavering commitment to Detroit. Esteemed conductor Leonard Slatkin, called “America’s Music Director” by the Los Angeles Times, became the 12th Music Director of the DSO during the 2008-09.  Acclaimed conductor, arranger, and trumpeter Jeff Tyzik serves as Principal Pops Conductor while celebrated trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard holds the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair. The DSO’s performance schedule includes Classical, Pops, Jazz, Young People’s, Neighborhood concerts, and collaborations with chart-topping musicians from Smokey Robinson to Kid Rock. A commitment to broadcast innovation began in 1922 when the DSO became the first orchestra in the world to present a radio broadcast and continues today with the free Live from Orchestra Hall webcast series. Making its home at historic Orchestra Hall within the Max M. Fisher Music Center, one of America’s most acoustically perfect concert halls, the DSO actively pursues a mission to impact and serve the community through music. For more information visit dso.org or download the free DSO to Go mobile app.