Nicola Benedetti
- Named BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004, violinist Nicola Benedetti has captivated audiences with her performances across the globe. Leading The Independent to say of her “Benedetti has the gift of communication in spades: an ability to make the music seem larger than life by sheer eagerness of musical personality.”
- An exclusive Universal/Deutsche Grammophon artist Nicola is the fastest selling solo classical artist in the UK.
- Nicola released her third album in September 2007, featuring a new violin concerto, Lalishri, by Sir John Tavener and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending.
‘….A fascinating disc’ Gramophone Magazine
‘Benedetti’s performace reveals that she loves this music every bit as she loves Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending , which she plays with similar open-hearted warmth and rapt concentration – as well as superb technical control…outstanding’ BBC Music Magazine
- Nicola’s second album, including Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and From Ayrshire, a piece written for her by James MacMillan, received a unanimously positive response reaching No. 1 on the BBC Music charts and named “Disc of the Month” by Classic FM. The album was nominated for three Classical Brit Awards in 2007.
‘…lithe, transparent, pure, elegant, fine-spun – all qualities that Benedetti possesses in abundance. The jewel-like slow movement is a particular success…Benedetti creates a true sotto voce for the reprise – a wonderful moment’ BBC Music Magazine
- Her debut album featured Szymanowski’s Violin Concerto No. 1, the work which catapulted her to nationwide fame after she performed it to win the title of BBC Young Musician of the Year.
- In the past season Nicola has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St Martins in the Fields. She made successful international debuts with the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre de Picardie and performed with the City of London Sinfonia on a tour of China, BBC Philharmonic orchestra,
- During the 2007/2008 season Nicola made her debut performances with the London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Tonhalle and Vienna Tonkunstler Orchestras. In addition she returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra and London Mozart Players. Nicola looks forward to touring Spain with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and China with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
- Nicola has collaborated with many internationally acclaimed conductors such as Andrew Litton, Sir Neville Marriner, Paavo Jarvi, Kristjan Jarvi, Roger Norrington, Alexander Lazarev, Pietari Inkinen, Stephane Deneve, Alan Buribayev, Mario Venzago, Jakob Hrusa and Vladimir Ashkenazy.
- Nicola frequently performs in North America having performed with the Vancouver Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and the Phoenix Symphony Orchestras and looks forward to a future invitation from the Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra. Nicola and has given recital performances in New York Lincoln Center, Boston, Milwaukee, Kansas City and at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival.
- Nicola recently collaborated with Howard Shore as the featured solo artist on the soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s film Eastern Promises.
- In addition to her performance and recording activities, Nicola has devoted herself to humanitarian and educational causes. Since 2005, she has visited schools throughout the United Kingdom in conjunction with CLIC Sargent’s Practice-a-thon, in which she encourages pupils of all ages to pick up their instruments and enjoy classical music.
- Last season she performed at a special concert for the Orpheum Foundation for the Advancement of Young Soloists in Switzerland.
- In 2007, at the age of 20 Nicola was awarded with an Honorary Degree from Glasgow Caledonian University.
- Nicola has won several awards including the Young Scot Award in 2006 for the Entertainment category. In 2004 she performed at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament in front of Her Majesty The Queen, and in early 2006, she performed for Colin Powell at the Jewish National Fund meetings in Glasgow.
- Born in Scotland of Italian heritage, Nicola began violin lessons at the age of five. In 1997, she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Natasha Boyarskaya. After leaving the Yehudi Menuhin School she continued her studies with Maciej Rakowski in London. Now she is currently taking lessons from Pavel Vernikov in Vienna.
- Nicola plays the Earl Spencer Stradivarius (c 1712), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.
- Nicola won Young British Classical Performer Award at the 2008 Classical Brit awards.