Bell's violin is a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin called the Gibson ex Huberman, which was made in 1713, a time when Stradivarius was making his best instruments. This violin had been stolen twice from the previous owner, Bronislaw Huberman; the last time the thief confessed as he was dying to having stolen it. Bell had held and played the violin, and its owner at the time jokingly told Bell the violin could be his for four million dollars. Shortly afterwards, by chance, Bell came across the violin again and discovered it was about to be sold to a wealthy German to become part of a collection. According to the Joshua Bell website Bell "was practically in tears." Bell then sold the Stradivarius violin that he had at the time for a little more than two million dollars and bought the Gibson ex Huberman for a little under the four million dollar asking price. His first recording made with the Gibson ex Huberman was "Romance of the Violin". It sold more than 5,000,000 copies and remained at the top of classical music charts for 54 weeks. In September 2006 he made a CD called the "Voice of the Violin" and was released in September 2006. It has songs arranged for the violin. He played the song "Vocalise" by Rachmaninoff in the Royal Albert Hall at the Last Night of the Proms in 2007. He is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.