Joshua Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana. Bell began taking violin lessons at the age of four under Mimi Zweig. Joshua Bell made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He performed the solo part on John Corigliano's Oscar winning soundtrack for the film, "The Red Violin", and was also featured in "Ladies in Lavender".Bells instrument is a 300 year old Stradivarius violin called the Gibson ex Huberman, which was made in 1713, during what is known as Antonio Stradivan's "Golden Era". In a curious experiment, Bell played as an incognito street busker at the Metro station L'Enfant Plaza in Washington D.C. on January 12, 2007. Among 1,097 people who passed by, only one recognized him, and few even stopped to listen. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him) It was announced on April 8, 2007 that Bell had won the Avery Fisher Prize, given once every few years to classical instrumentalist for outstanding achievement. It was awarded at Lincoln Center on April 10, 2007. On May 3, 2007, it was announced that Bell had joined the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music faculty as senior lecturer.