Winona’s Minnesota Beethoven Festival lineup includes violinist Joshua Bell

No matter what Tina Turner once sang, no one is “simply the best” in their chosen field, and certainly not in music. Everyone brings something different to the table.

That said, there are those in the classical field regarded as among a handful of elite musicians within their particular specialty. And several of them are visiting Winona over the next few weeks to perform at the Minnesota Beethoven Festival. These are musicians who are routinely dubbed among “the best in the business” at what they do.

Here are some of the elite instrumentalists coming to the festival, which opens Sunday and runs through July 20. Except where noted, all concerts are at St. Mary’s University’s Page Theatre and cost $25. Visit mnbeethovenfestival.org for details.

Nominated for six Grammys and winner of one, this Indiana product might be the biggest star in classical music. And Minnesotans have benefitted from the fact that he seems to like it here. Bell was a St. Paul Chamber Orchestra artistic partner from 2004 to 2007, and he’s been coming to the Minnesota Beethoven Festival with relative regularity since its founding in 2007. He’ll perform a recital with pianist Peter Dugan that features sonatas by Beethoven, Johannes Brahms and Gabriel Fauré. (3 p.m. June 29, Somsen Hall, Winona State University, sold out)

This Russian (now living in New York City) has become a sensation comparable to such past virtuosos as Vladimir Horowitz and the young Martha Argerich. A writer for the Times of London called him “without question the most astounding pianist of our age,” and few who caught his awe-inspiring 2024 Chopin Society recital in St. Paul would challenge that. In Winona, he’ll offer Chopin waltzes and sonatas by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Samuel Barber. (7:30 p.m. July 1, sold out)

Only a handful of clarinetists travel around soloing with orchestras and performing recitals, and this Chicago-born, pure-toned master of his instrument does so whenever he can get away from his job as principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic. Named Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 2024, he’ll be joined by pianist Rieko Tsuchida for music by Robert Schumann, James Lee III, Takashi Yoshimatsu, Leonard Bernstein, Philippe Gaubert and Johannes Brahms. (7:30 p.m. July 8)

How many bassists have ever won a MacArthur “genius grant”? Meyer earned his by not only being his instrument’s foremost 21st-century virtuoso but a composer and arranger who gathers other outstanding musicians to create albums that find common ground between classical and such genres as bluegrass, jazz and the music of other cultures. A seven-time Grammy winner, Meyer will be joined by violinist Tessa Lark and cellist Joshua Roman for three of Meyer’s string trios and a bit of J.S. Bach. (7:30 p.m. July 17)

St. Paul native Greg Anderson found a way to liberate classical piano performances from their sometimes stuffy settings when he met fellow pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe and they discovered their mutual love of four-handed piano music (i.e. one piano, two pianists). They’ve gone on to garner an enthusiastic following, frequently topping the Billboard classical charts. They’ll team up for mash-ups of Ludwig van Beethoven, Leonard Bernstein, Brahms, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen and Sigur Ros. (3 p.m. July 20)

Several classical critics have argued the Minnesota Orchestra deserves mention among the world’s best, and Grammy voters seem to agree, with five best orchestral performance nominations this century and one win. It was also named orchestra of the year by Gramophone magazine readers in 2021. A regular Beethoven Festival visitor since its first year, the orchestra will perform twice this year, presenting a free outdoor pops concert at the Lake Park Bandshell (8 p.m. July 5) and playing Beethoven, Brahms and Carl Maria von Weber with conductor Kensho Watanabe at the Winona Middle School Auditorium. (4 p.m. July 13, $30)

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.