Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell at the premier of the Divine Performing Arts show in Kennedy Center Opera House. (The Epoch Times)

(Clearwisdom.net) WASHINGTON--Internationally renowned violinist Joshua Bell was so moved by the Divine Performing Arts (DPA) that he would like to adapt some of the DPA music to the violin, so that he, too, may play it.

Mr. Bell, who plays a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin, saw the show at the Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington D.C. on February 10.

"I liked it very much. It was very powerful, very emotional. I had a great time," he said.

Mr. Bell, who has studied under renowned violinist and pedagogue Josef Gingold, said he was surprised at the depth of the emotion in the DPA music.

Winner of the 2007 Avery Fisher Prize, Mr. Bell made his first recording with his 300 year old Stradivarius violin, known as the Gibson ex Huberman, in 2003, entitled Romance of the Violin. It sold more than 5,000,000 copies and remained at the top of classical music charts for 54 weeks.

His recent CD is entitled, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, and was released near the end of summer in 2008.

Mr. Bell said he was particularly taken with the traditional two-stringed Chinese violin, the erhu.

"That was one of my favorite things, I thought it was very beautiful. Her sound is very emotional. If we don't understand Chinese culture, we sometimes characterized them in a way as being so hard working and we think of the efficiency of the Chinese people and we don't always remember how they feel things very deeply," he said.

The erhu had parallels with the violin which were intriguing, he said. "It is very expressive because it is only on two strings. So, it is very vocal, like the violin. That's why they are very similar, there are no frets like the keyboard, it's all fluid like the human voice so I see a lot of similarities."

Mr. Bell said the erhu, combined with the original scores had inspired him to pursue the music further.

"In fact I want to get a hold of the music for it because I was thinking of making an arrangement of it for violin because I think it would work very good for violin," he said.

DPA also features a live orchestra that uses a combination of Chinese and Western instruments.

"The use of the pentatonic scale in Chinese is interesting to hear," he said of the orchestra.

"It is an odd combination, but it works. It is nice to hear the Chinese instruments."

Although the award-winning violinist was particularly appreciative of the music, it wasn't the only thing that impressed him about the show. The DPA gave him a great sense of joy and vitality, he said. "I think it is very pleasing for all the senses, visually all the beautiful colors and the ensembles. It is a spectacle in a way, like a Broadway show, it tells a story and it's uplifting."

He also appreciated the incorporation of traditional culture in the performances. "I thought it was a nice touch to the show. I think it makes you feel good. You feel good about being alive and you feel sort of connected, you see their connection to a very old culture which is kind of grounding."

Mr. Bell said that he had missed the first half of the show as he was in rehearsals for his own concert at the Ford Theater the following night, but was grateful to have seen what he did of the show.

"They are reopening the Ford Theater which is why I am in town, so I swung by after that and caught the second half. I thought it was very beautiful and moving."

The Divine Performing Arts will be holding six more performances at the Kennedy Center Opera House until Sunday February 15.

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/11862/