By Sebastian Spreng, Visual Artist and Classical Music Writer

What was the expression on Albert Einstein’s face when Bronislaw Hubermann let him play his überfamous Stradivarius? Was it a historic moment? The product of wishful thinking? An event that never happened even if a photo suggests it did? In any case, the ecstatic look attributed to the genius (who was in fact an amateur violinist) could well have resembled that of the fledgling violinists to whom Joshua Bell passed the same legendary (and twice-stolen) 1713 instrument in a symbolic expression of trust and camaraderie.

Friendship and devotion to music were foremost in the virtuoso’s approach to the film Joshua Bell: A YoungArts Master Class, in which he avoided the master class fad – and the “show” it entails – that has swept the music world, and not always for the better. That approach succeeds in the film (to be broadcast on HBO on Oct. 14) and succeeded at the YoungArts Foundation Salon Series, in which he performed before an audience captivated by his presence alongside the “nine disciples,” who shared the spotlight at the film’s world premiere in Miami last Monday.

Sponsored by the Knight Foundation, the event kicked off the music season. On this occasion, Bell joined the gallery of celebrities from different artistic disciplines who periodically perk up the series. Complementing the film screening, the young musicians and their teacher played movements from Mendelssohn’s Octet and Bach’s Violin Concerto No. 1. The performance was preceded by a meaty conversation, covering diverse topics, between Bell and Elizabeth Sobol, head of Universal Music Classics and one of his early mentors. Again, it was about sharing a get-together with friends.

During the talk, a relaxed Bell infected everyone with the same enthusiasm that permeates the film, to the happy, approving faces of the nine musicians sitting in the front row – nine youths who instead of taking a traditional master class spent a week accompanying Bell to New York, London, recording studios, restaurants, clubs and a chamber music concert in his apartment, in addition to attending rehearsals and classes. It was a total experience, a contribution to their development as artists and human beings and, of course, an absolutely unforgettable time.

At the age of 46, the megastar violinist-conductor and director of the Academy of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields makes as much time as he can within his busy schedule to work with the next generation. Not all great artists are skilled at transmitting knowledge and experience, but he definitely is. The film proved it, as did that extraordinary evening in the repurposed Barcardi Building on Biscayne Boulevarad, an evening that moved Miami closer to where it should be and celebrated the first YoungArts Awareness Day in style.

For more information: www.youngarts.org/fall or 1-800-970-ARTS