Waking Hours

Joshua Bell (50) is a solo violinist and musical director at The Academy of St Martin in the Fields. He lives in NYC with his girlfriend, soprano Larisa Martinez. He has three children, Josef (10) and Samuel and Benjamin (both 7)

A New York day in the life

Ispend a lot of time in Europe, but I live in New York City, so when I’m in Europe, I try to say close to US time. I organise my life so that I can stay up very late, until 5am, and then I sleep until noon. I arrange rehearsals and travel for later in the day. That way, when I get home after a week away, I never experience jet-lag.

My greatest pleasure in the morning is a cup of coffee. Part of it is psychological, because I know that it’s a day off. I try not to have coffee on the day of a concert. I still get nervous beforehand. It’s a good feeling. But on those days when I’ve had coffee, on top of the adrenaline, I feel my violin bow is shaking. It’s awful.

I like a big breakfast – eggs, baked beans, bacon and toast. I usually plan my day around eating. I also plan my day around concerts and rehearsals. When I come to the National Concert Hall in Dublin next week, on January 20, with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, I will direct and conduct, and I also play every piece. In those two hours, I burn a lot of calories.

A New York day is a very different day. Usually when I’m there, I have time off. I wake up early, because I have three kids. Although I don’t live with them, I live on the same street. It’s a ritual that I go over to my kids’ house and have breakfast with them before they go to school. Josef is 10, and Samuel and Benjamin are seven. Josef goes to one school and the twins go to a different school. We get the subway. I drop Josef off, give him a hug and tell him that he’s not going to be hugging me at school for much longer, but he can’t understand it. He says that’s not true at all. It’s very sweet, but he will see. When I spoke to him on the phone last night, he told me that he wants me to come to his school and perform for his class.

Then we have 20 minutes free time before the twins have to be at school. I pop into Starbucks, have a coffee and sit with them. Then we walk eight blocks up the street, up Broadway, to their school, a special music school. They play the piano and violin. Most of the kids in their school won’t end up as musicians, but having music as a centre of education helps them in all different areas: languages and maths. The school is near the Lincoln Centre where all the cultural things are, and because of that, I usually run into someone I know. People think of New York as a big city, but it’s pretty small in that way.

At the time I had my kids, I was single, but I was nearing 40 and I really wanted to have kids. My ex-girlfriend, whom I’d been with for many years, was ready, so she and I made an arrangement to have a child together. And then we tried again, without being together. But I don’t like to talk about it any more. I have a very good relationship with their mom. The nice thing about our relationship is that there is absolutely no animosity.

I practise early in the day. I set aside two hours. I have a room in my apartment in New York. It’s a library, surrounded by musical autographs of various composers and books. It’s very conducive to feeling inspired. I take out my Stradivarius, put my music on the stand and dig in. I like to begin with Bach. It’s a wonderful way to start your day. I’m not a religious person but there is something very spiritual about Bach. No matter what problems are going on in the world, when you play his music, it grounds you and reminds you that there is so much more. It’s kind of like the Bible for violin music.

I grew up with music. My mother played the piano, and my parents listened to classical music on the radio. It was just a given that everyone in my family would play an instrument. When I was three, I used to string rubber bands across the dressing room drawers and open them, to make different pitches. When they saw me, they decided to send me for lessons. At four, they got me a violin and lessons. I took to it immediately. My mother is Jewish, and that comes along with the cliche of having a very involved Jewish mother. She is probably responsible for some of my success. I’m very close to her, and she is still very involved in my career. She reads newspaper reviews — I never do — and she listens to a lot of my concerts, which are broadcast on the internet.

On the day of a concert, I have lunch, and then a long nap. Then I try to make things as calm as possible. I play the concert and then, I do a CD signing. One little old lady comes to almost every concert when I’m in Europe. She was in London and Iceland. I’ve also had a couple of very negative stalker incidents. That has been quite uncomfortable. It’s best not to talk about it.

Straight after a concert, I enjoy a cold

“I can’t drink coffee on the day of a concert. I feel my bow shaking. It’s awful”

beer. Then it’s dinner and back to the hotel. I might do Skype with my kids, or if it’s football season, I’ll be up very late because I’m a huge American football fan. I should read more books, but I end up watching Breaking Bad. I do this when I’m alone. I’ve been with my girlfriend, Larisa Martinez, for six years. She is Puerto Rican and I met her in a jazz club. She is an extremely talented opera singer and almost 20 years younger than me. She is on tour with Andrea Bocelli. Now she is performing in stadiums, for bigger audiences than I have ever played for, so I tease her about this. Larisa lives with me in New York, but it’s not easy to see each other. In this world as an artist, you have to be self-centred at times, and you need someone who understands this.