Growing up on a farm in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell's upbringing reads as a fairly normal boyhood story. He started his violin studies at the age of four.

Fortunately for Bell's parents, the renowned violin pedagogue Josef Gingold was not so far from home and it was under his tutelage that Joshua's prodigious talent was developed. An orchestral debut with Ricardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 14 earned him the phenomenal status which he has now retained for two decades. He has forged new standards of excellence with film score projects and three Grammy-winning recordings of a newly composed concerto, a video recording of Bernstein's West Side Story suite and an album with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck.

For all the commercialism that has achieved Bell his unrivalled fame (he's even appeared on Sesame Street), his integrity as a musician is still his biggest selling point. I've been listening to his live recording of the Tchaikovsky concerto with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Berlin Philharmonic obsessively and his slow movement still wrenches tears from me. He and Denk will play an all-Schubert programme on this occasion, including the viciously difficult Rondo Brilliante in B minor. His choice of repertoire is sufficiently reflective of his musical integrity . . . not a Kreisler or Paganini in sight. The bonus is that tickets for this recital are reasonably priced and the upper ranges are still available. I can feel a Bell-fever coming on already.

A dramatic timpani roll heralded the opening of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra's Brahmsfest on Thursday 20 at the NCH. The fury of the opening theme of Brahms' first piano concerto in D minor is intensified by an inherent feeling of restraint. On this occasion, with conductor Gerhard Markson at the helm, this theme was slightly more defined by its restraint than by its fury.

Although the latter character didn't ignite as dramatically as I would have liked, it resulted in colouring the solo piano entry with a particularly arresting hue. Soloist John O'Connor proceeded to demonstrate an unfathomable insight into the motivations of every nuance in the concerto. The lyricism in his playing was poetic in its expression. Markson gave sincere justice to the hushed orchestral opening of the slow movement. The finale bounced along enjoyably, enhanced by deft touches of the poco sostenutos to which O'Connor lent a necessary importance.

O'Connor is not only an ambassador for Ireland but an ambassador for Beethoven also. Following the acclaim with which his Beethoven recital was received in New York in February, Dublin will have the opportunity to witness the magic he brings to the music of the Romantic master next Tuesday (2). He will be joined by violinist Miriam Fried in three Beethoven sonatas, the 1st, 5th ('Spring') and 7th.

Miriam Fried's career was catapulted to glory in 1968 when she won the Paganini Competition and she has since established herself as a leading international soloist, having played with virtually all of the top orchestras in the world. She mastered her craft in the Julliard school in New York, having been ushered there as a protegee of Isaac Stern, and later in Indiana University with Josef Gingold.

Joshua Bell in an all-Schubert selection; Miriam Fried in an all-Beethoven bill. Both former students of Josef Gingold. I'm sure there's some pattern analysis/conspiracy theory list I could report this coincidence to. There may even be an award for such nonsense.