Baker-Baum Concert Hall (Photo: La Jolla Music Society)
By Eileen Wingard
Eileen Wingard
Joshua Bell (Photo: Alexduff – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12000237)
LA JOLLA, California — The La Jolla Music Society’s performing arts center, The Conrad, is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year. It is the recent recipient of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s 2024 Architecture Honor Award for its Baker-Baum Concert Hall, recognized as one of the most acoustically excellent venues in the world.
The fortunate listeners who have attended some of the La Jolla Music Society’s 80 annual concerts, or performances sponsored by other groups, can attest to the remarkable sound and beautiful ambience of the Baker-Baum Hall.
It was designed by the Cambridge-based firm, Epstein Joslin and Picardy in consultation with the Chapel Hill-based Theatre Consultants Collaborative and with the Japanese acoustical consultant, Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics. The San Diego firm, JWDA (Joseph Wong Design Associates) was the architect of record, collaborating with the design and construction.
To celebrate the Conrad’s fifth birthday, the La Jolla Music Society is presenting a gala recital by the celebrated violin super-star, Joshua Bell. His piano collaborator will be Peter Dugan and it will take place Monday evening, May 6, 7:30 p.m. in the Baker-Baum Concert Hall.
Bell is one of La Jolla Music Society’s favorites. He has been presented by the society eight times during the past 25 years. His most recent 2022 performance was with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, where he appeared as both conductor and soloist. He serves as the Music Director of that famous chamber orchestra, having succeeded its founding Music Director, Neville Marriner. Bell also maintains his career as a world-renowned soloist and chamber musician.
In addition, his playing has been heard on the scores of many films including The Red Violin, and Orchestra of Exiles, the story of the Israel Philharmonic. He plays on the Gibson ex. Huberman Stradivarius violin, once owned by the great Polish-Jewish virtuoso, Bronislaw Huberman, founder of the Palestine Symphony in 1936, which, with the establishment of the Jewish State, became known as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
In an interview in Tel Aviv, Bell tells about his mother, Shirley, who plays piano and was his musical inspiration. Bell’s maternal grandfather was born in Israel and his mother, Shirley, speaks Hebrew. His father, Alan P. Bell, who taught at the Kinsey Institute and at the University of Indiana, died in 2002. Bell married the operatic soprano, Larisa Martinez, in 2011. Now at age 56, he is at the height of his career.
Tickets for the gala will be $100 and $150 regular, $250 for a special patron package with a pre-concert reception. Part of the proceeds will go to funding the La Jolla Music Society’s educational outreach projects. To order tickets, call: 858-526-3423.
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Eileen Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via
