Voice of the Violin

Following the success of his best-selling Romance of the Violin - which has been a fixture on the Billboard Classical charts for over two years - this all-new collection presents Bell and his Stradivarius giving fresh "voice" to works by Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Bizet, Dvořák, Donizetti, Massenet and more, accompanied by Orchestra of St. Luke's, conducted by Michael Stern.

Bell's inspiration for Romance of the Violin - one of the greatest successes in Bell's recording career - was the opportunity to play beautiful classical melodies that violinists never get to perform. Voice of the Violin goes a step further, sampling the most memorable arias from opera and oratorio, as well as the classical song literature, for melodies that the violin - in Bell's case, the legendary 1713 "Gibson ex Huberman" Stradivarius - can "sing" most beautifully.

The selections on Voice of the Violin include such favorites as Schubert's "Ave Maria," Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise" and Tchaikovsky's "None But the Lonely Heart," as well as beloved arias by Mozart ("Laudate dominum" from Vesperae Solenne di Confessore); Bizet ("Je crois entendre encore" from Les Pecheurs de perles); Donizetti ("Una furtiva lagrima" from L'Elisir d'amore); Dvořák ("Song of the Moon" from Rusalka) and Orff ("In trutina" from Carmina Burana). From the song literature - in addition to Strauss's Morgen" - come favorites by Fauré ("Après un rêve"), Debussy ("Beau soir"), Falla ("Nana"), Mendelssohn ("May Breezes" from Songs Without Words) and Ponce ("Estrellita").

A star of the Metropolitan Opera as well as leading opera houses and concert stages all over the world, Netrebko will join Bell in a performance of the soulful Strauss song "Morgen," in the famous orchestral transcription that features a violin solo. Pianist Frederic Chiu, a friend and frequent colleague of Bell's, accompanies the violinist in a performance of Debussy's "Beau soir."