Husband-and-wife duo Joshua Bell and Larisa Martínez present The Voice and the Violin, a genre-spanning program exploring art song, opera, musical theater, and works by Puerto Rican and Spanish composers—an acclaimed collaboration presented at major festivals and concert halls nationwide.
Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Thursday, July 2, 7:30 pm
Joshua Bell & Larisa Martinez
Peter Dugan, piano
JOSHUA BELL, violin
With a career spanning nearly four decades, GRAMMY® Award–winning violinist Joshua Bell CBE is one of the most celebrated and influential artists of his era. He has performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world and maintains an extraordinarily active career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. In 2025, Bell was awarded an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by King Charles III for services to music.
Highlights of Bell’s 2024–25 season include the release of two new albums: Thomas De Hartmann Rediscovered, featuring the world premiere recording of De Hartmann’s Violin Concerto with the INSO-Lviv Orchestra, and an album of Mendelssohn piano trios recorded with longtime collaborators Jeremy Denk and Steven Isserlis. An avid recitalist, Bell tours internationally and performs his popular Voice and the Violin program with soprano Larisa Martínez throughout North America. As a guest soloist, he appears with leading orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, while also conducting and performing with major ensembles across Europe and the U.S.
Bell has served as Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields since 2011, following a relationship with the orchestra that dates back to 1986. His recordings with the Academy include GRAMMY®-nominated and chart-topping releases, and his contract has been extended through the 2027–28 season.
A champion of new music, Bell has commissioned and premiered works by John Corigliano, Edgar Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, Jennifer Higdon, Kevin Puts, and others. His GRAMMY®-winning recording of Nicholas Maw’s Violin Concerto is among many acclaimed releases for Sony Classical, with whom he has recorded more than forty albums.
Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell studied with Josef Gingold, debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 14, and made his Carnegie Hall debut at 17. He continues to inspire audiences worldwide through performances, recordings, education initiatives, and innovative collaborations across musical genres.
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LARISA MARTINEZ, soprano
Internationally acclaimed soprano Larisa Martínez is widely recognized as one of the most compelling vocal artists of her generation. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she is praised for her warm lyric coloratura voice, expressive musicianship, and captivating stage presence. Opera News lauded her portrayal of Rossini’s Corinna (Il viaggio a Reims), writing that “Ms. Martínez cut an elegant figure, her deportment on stage matching that of her singing.”
Ms. Martínez has appeared in leading operatic roles including Violetta (La Traviata) with Wichita Grand Opera, Sophie (Werther) alongside Piotr Beczala, and Maria (West Side Story) conducted by Lawrence Foster at Festival Napa Valley, sharing the stage with tenor Michael Fabiano. Her concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 4, Mozart’s Requiem, Villa-Lobos’ Floresta do Amazonas, and performances presented by Renata Scotto in Rome, recorded for Euroclassics.
In 2019, Martínez made her Kennedy Center recital debut and her Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium debut singing Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony. She created the role of Isaura in the world premiere of Mercadante’s Francesca da Rimini in Italy under Fabio Luisi and Pier Luigi Pizzi. That same year, she was invited to Cuba as part of President Barack Obama’s artistic delegation, appearing in the Emmy®-nominated PBS special Live from Lincoln Center: Seasons of Cuba.
For the past three years, Ms. Martínez has toured internationally with Andrea Bocelli, performing at venues including Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl. She also collaborates frequently with violinist Joshua Bell, including PBS broadcasts and an upcoming Voice and the Violin tour. A winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (Puerto Rico), Martínez holds degrees from the Music Conservatory of San Juan, the University of Puerto Rico, and Mannes School of Music. She is a proud artistic resident of Turnaround Arts, championing arts education nationwide.
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PETER DUGAN, piano
Pianist Peter Dugan is celebrated for performances that combine virtuosity, versatility, and bold musical imagination. His debut appearances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the San Francisco Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” Heard nationwide as the host of NPR’s From the Top, Dugan maintains an active career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad.
A sought-after multi-genre artist, Dugan has collaborated with musicians and artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, and Joshua Bell to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. The Wall Street Journal has described his partnership with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” He has appeared in chamber music recitals presented by Carnegie Hall, Music@Menlo, and the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, and has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the San Francisco, Houston, and Kansas City Symphonies.
Dugan’s recordings include a release of Ives’ Fourth Symphony with Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, named one of the New York Times’ top classical albums of 2019, and A Silent Night: A WWI Memorial in Song with baritone John Brancy. A Juilliard graduate, he serves on the Juilliard Evening Division faculty and is a Yamaha Artist.
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