One of its early violinists, Joshua Bell, serenaded her on her 106th birthday this year.

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Mr Zygmuntowicz, who has also made instruments for Joshua Bell and the Emerson String Quartet, is rated as one of the best violin-makers alive.

ECONOMIST: Violin-making

While major performers have given concerts there Woody Allen, Joshua Bell, Nora Jones, Rufus Wainwright the hall is rarely booked for the kinds of extended engagements that can make a venue famous.

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Howard Shore, for example, created a radiant "Lord of the Rings" concert piece from his soundtracks, and John Corigliano's "Red Violin Concerto" is being released September 5 by Sony in a Joshua Bell-led recording.

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That's the passion that drives Joshua Bell, who was just four years old, I understand, when his parents caught him stringing rubber bands between the knobs of dressers, stretching and plucking them to play different notes.

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With us today are Joshua Bell on violin, Alisa Weilerstein on cello, Sharon Isbin on guitar, and Awadagin Pratt on piano. (Applause.) They are the best in the world, and we're incredibly lucky to have them today.

WHITEHOUSE: White House Workshop: Classical Music

It had no steeple, no stained glass, no bell tower, but it was the house of Abraham and Isaac, of Moses and Joshua, of the Lord thy God.

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