Joshua Bell wows in Houston Symphony

Bright, pealing notes from a 300-year-old violin pierced the spacious hall, settling into a cadenza spanning the entire range of the instrument, from dazzling streaks of light to dark chords, broken only by carefree pizzicato flourishes. Audiences were taken on a journey by the Houston Symphony. This concert series - "Joshua Bell Returns" - was remarkable not only for the Symphony's collaboration with the renowned violinist Joshua Bell, but also for the involvement of maestro Lawrence Foster, a prominent conductor who directed the Houston Symphony from 1971 to 1979, returning for the weekend to conduct the orchestra once again.