IN CONVERSATION WITH NICOLA BENEDETTI
Nicola Benedetti Credit: Gabriele Marangoni
Nicola Benedetti will be performing Beethoven’s violin concerto with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on February 13 in Santa Barbara, that is sure to inspire the community and neighboring Montecito, which is recovering from a surreal mudslide. She is involved with numerous arts organizations in her native Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom and gives nurturing advice to young people in particular, so they might find their musical niche.
Benedetti’s Italian-Scottish parents recognized her prodigious talent early on and as such the 8 year-old became concertmaster of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. Two years later she began violin studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Natalya Boyarskaya and later on with Maciej Rakowski, a former member of the English Chamber Orchestra.
While still a teenager, Benedetti was soon performing with groups like the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony and at 16 years-old she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition.
Now 30 years old, Benedetti’s world-class career includes collaborations as soloist with notable conductors such as Vladimir Jurowski, Vasily Petrenko and Alan Gilbert, appearances at the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, 92nd Street Y in New York and with the Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony and Warsaw Philharmonic, among others. She also devotes time to performing in a trio with pianist Alexei Grynyuk and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich.
Her programs contain a wonderfully diverse repertoire as does a discography that includes Glazunov and Shostakovich violin concertos and albums like The Silver Violin and Homecoming A Scottish Fantasy – all on the Decca label. She plays a 1717 Ex-Gariel Stradivarius.
Nicola Benedetti discusses her career with Editor Leonne Lewis.
Your current concert programs include a new work by Wynton Marsalis. How much input have you had in its creation?
The piece is still being written so this is still to be known.
Was your transition from child prodigy to mature artist smooth?
I wasn’t a child prodigy at all. Actually, I really have had a slow development but with a pretty consistent amount of opportunities from a young age. It’s one of those things you’re not quite sure about why opportunity gets sent your way. I have always tried to deepen my relationship to music, to work with more seriousness and awareness and to continue a development on a constant basis. Maciej Rakowski was a wonderful teacher and he helped me enormously through those difficult teenage years.
Your repertoire contains a variety of traditional to easy listening pieces. How important is it for a performer to establish a personal style and musical identity?
Violinists are spoilt for choice with having good music to play. An entire lifetime isn’t enough for me to cover all the great works written for violin. I think it’s extremely important to be the strongest, most pure and sincere version of yourself. We all go about this in different and often weird and wonderful ways. With classical music, there are so many specific skill sets to learn and develop that individuality is often the last thing on our minds. But I would say there is more of an appetite for individuality and variety now than ever. Lots of people can play the notes of Beethoven. We need people with something to say
You actively mentor students at many arts venues. Why is it important for aspiring young players to collaborate through chamber music?
I’ve always been told that it’s important. It develops your ability to react and listen as well as communicate. I have never done as much chamber music as I would have liked, but through cherished long-term relationships with specific musicians, I’ve done a lot more in the last seven years.
Last year, you received the Queen’s Medal for Music, the youngest recipient of a select group that includes Bryn Terfel and Sir Colin Davis. Does Scotland have a thriving music scene?
I think many cities in Scotland have vibrant and strong creative activities, including classical music and there are great world-class orchestras performing incredible music.