Nicola Benedetti

Did You Know?

• In 2003, at age 15 or 16, she participated as a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra in recording the DVD 'Barbie of Swan Lake' at Abbey Road Studios.
• She was snubbed by then-First Minister Jack McConnell after winning BBC Young Musician of the Year, leading to a public outcry and a subsequent phone call from McConnell.

Early life and education

Benedetti was born in West Kilbride to an Italian father and an Italian-Scottish mother. Her older sister Stephanie is also a violinist, performing with Escala and Clean Bandit. She began violin lessons at age four with Brenda Smith, became leader of the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain at eight, and passed all eight grades by age nine while attending Wellington School, Ayr. In September 1997 she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School, studying under Lord Menuhin and Natasha Boyarskaya. At the end of her first year she played solo at Wigmore Hall and performed Bach's Double Violin Concerto with Alina Ibragimova in London and Paris. She also played at a memorial concert for Yehudi Menuhin at Westminster Abbey and competed in the Menuhin Competition as a junior in 2000.

Career

In 1999 Benedetti performed at Holyrood Palace with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. The following year she performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Scottish Opera, later appearing with the City of London Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. In August 2002 she won the Brilliant Prodigy Competition broadcast by Carlton Television. She left the Menuhin School shortly after and studied privately with Maciej Rakowski.

In spring 2003 she participated as a soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra in recording the DVD Barbie of Swan Lake at Abbey Road Studios; an extra feature, 'Playing With Passion', was filmed and released by Mattel. BBC Scotland created a documentary on her using that DVD, broadcast in March 2004. In May 2004 she won BBC Young Musician of the Year, performing Karol Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto at the Usher Hall with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

She came first in the music section of the Top Scot award in December 2005. In September 2012 she performed at the Last Night of the Proms, playing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. That year she was lent the 1717 Gariel Stradivarius by Jonathan Moulds. She also performs in a trio with Leonard Elschenbroich and Alexei Grynyuk.

In 2021 she was the subject of the winning portrait in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, painted by Calum Stevenson, now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. She is represented by Charlotte Lee at Primo Artists.

Honours and awards

Nicola Benedetti was made an MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for her work in music and charity, and in May 2017 she became the youngest recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music since it began in 2005. She was promoted to CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours. Her honorary degrees include those from Glasgow Caledonian University (2007), Heriot-Watt University (2010), the University of Edinburgh (2011), the University of Leicester (2013), and the University of York (2020).

In 2015, the BBC named her one of its 100 Women. She became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 2017, and in 2019 that society gave her its Royal Medal for her role in improving the lives of disadvantaged Scottish children through Sistema Scotland and the Big Noise Orchestras. She won a Grammy in 2020 for best classical instrumental solo with her recording of Marsalis: Violin Concerto; Fiddle Dance Suite. The ISM Distinguished Musician Award came in 2021.

In 2022, she was named honorary president of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The 2023 Edinburgh Award recognized her contribution to the city as director of the Edinburgh International Festival.