Famous Violinist Joshua Bell performs at the Washington D.C. Metro subway incognito.
A chain email on Joshua Bell's performance at L'Enfant's Plaza Metro station lives on.
Since early 2007, a chain email has proliferated about American virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell performing incognito at Washington D.C. Metro station. The message is a lesson on our perception, taste, and attitude.
The latest from this chain email I got was 20th June 2025. A friend meant well in sending it, although I've known about it all along.
The email forward claims that violinist Joshua Bell performed incognito at a metro station in Washington D.C. playing on a violin worth millions of dollars but his performance received very little interest from passersby.
Joshua Bell's 'Stop and Hear the Music' metro experiment | The Washington Post. Youtube, uploaded by Washington Post. Accessed December 9, 2020.
On January 12, 2007, at 7:51 a.m., famous world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell performed incognito at a metro station in Washington, D.C. as an experiment. The moment was a morning rush hour. He played on his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six beautiful violin pieces, some 1,097 people almost all of them on the way to work passed by, with only a few stopping to listen, highlighting how context and expectations affect our perception of beauty and talent.
(It should be noted that contrary to what the chain email claims in which all musical pieces he played were Bach's, they were not!)
Joshua Bell emerged from the Metro at the L'Enfant Plaza station, positioning himself against a wall beside a trash basket. This area is at the nucleus of federal Washington, with work force mostly mid-level bureaucrats and other professionals, from policy analysts and project managers to specialists and consultants. He appeared as a young man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. Removing his violin from a small case, he opened the case at his feet, throwing in few dollars and pocket change as seed money.
Bell began to play. To any avid classical music lover, aside from his brilliant performance, his repertoire is simply exquisite, including Bach's Chaconne, Schubert's Ave Maria, Ponce's Estrellita, and that ever poignant Meditation de Thais by Massenet.
- Who: Joshua Bell, a world-class violinist.
- What: Played intricate classical music (including Bach's Chaconne).
- Where: L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station, Washington D.C..
- When: January 12, 2007, during morning rush hour.
- The Twist: He played incognito, as a street musician, with a hidden camera recording the event.
- Out of over 1,000 people passing by, only about 7 stopped to listen.
- He collected only around $32 in donations (excluding one person who recognized him).
- Just two nights earlier, he had sold out a theater with $100+ tickets, showing the same music was appreciated in a formal setting.
- The experiment explored how context (a subway vs. a concert hall) changes our perception of art and talent.
- It revealed that people often overlook beauty and brilliance when it appears unexpectedly or without the usual "framing" of a concert.
- It's a powerful reminder that masterpieces can be all around us, but we might miss them due to our busy lives and preconceptions.
This is a true story. Violinist Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.
The experiment raised several questions, among them:
- In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
- If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
- Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
(c) September 2011. Updated December 9, 2025. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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