Ever since he played his Stradivarius in the Washington, D.C. Metro for a thought piece that wound up winning Gene Weingarten a Pulitzer, Joshua Bell’s been pretty much the ne plus ultra of classical musicians, at least as far as mainstream public recognition goes. Which has nothing to do with his talent, of course, not really, which is a shame because the dude is very, very talented, whatever you may feel about his showman’s flourishes in concert. He swings back down South at the end of this month to play the Brahms violin concerto with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra twice, at the First Baptist Church on Canal Blvd., under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto. (Chris Waddington, New Orleans Times-Picayune)