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Nicola Benedetti- An Inspiring and Talented Violinist- Isabella Brooks, LEHS

Nicola Benedetti- An Inspiring and Talented Violinist <i>(Image: Schools Together)</i>
Nicola Benedetti- An Inspiring and Talented Violinist (Image: Schools Together)

Born in Irvine, Scotland, Nicola Benedetti is now a worldwide famous violinist. She began learning the violin when she was just four years old. At the age of eight, she became the leader of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain, then went on to complete all eight grades on the violin at nine years old. In September 1997, she started at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin music school and in 2004 she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award. Fast forwarding to October 2022, she became the first woman to lead the Edinburgh International Music Festival.

 

Some of her early public performances were accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She continues with these performances, travelling around the world; her next destination being Manchester, followed by another performance in Boston in January 2023.

 

As well as performing in concerts around the world, she also does masterclasses for students, one of which I was lucky enough to be a part of when she came to my school in 2019. The orchestra, which was made up of string players from nine schools in the same area, spent a day putting together two pieces to perform for Benedetti. She taught us and gave us advice on how to improve our playing, inspiring all of us with her experience and musical talent. Her main piece of advice was to feel the emotions of the music we were playing and to be fully engaged in the music; ‘absolute engagement is vital- engagement physically, emotionally and mentally’ is how she explained it in another one of her other masterclasses.

 

Nicola Benedetti is an inspirational, charismatic and talented musician who continues to motivate young musicians like myself to enjoy and flourish in the world of music.