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| Birth Name(s) : Nicola Benedetti |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Full Nicola Benedetti Biography
Nicola Benedetti started to learn the violin at the age of four. By the age of nine, she had already passed the eight grades of musical examinations, and in September 1997 began to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School for young musicians under Lord Menuhin and Natasha Boyarskaya in rural Surrey, England.
At the end of her first year (1998), she played solo in the school's annual concert at Wigmore Hall, and performed in London and Paris as a soloist in Bach's Concerto in D minor for two violins and orchestra. She played in a memorial concert at Westminster Abbey celebrating the life and work of Yehudi Menuhin.
In the following year (1999), Nicola performed for the anniversary celebrations at Holyrood Palace with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in the presence of HRH Prince Edward.
She played to the Prince again in 2001 when she performed a concerto with the London Mozart Players at St. James's Palace. Subsequent performances followed with the City of London Sinfonia, as well as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, etc.
In August 2002, she won the United Kingdom's Brilliant Prodigy Competition, broadcast by Carlton Television. She left the Menuhin School shortly after, and at the age of 15 began studying privately with Maciej Rakowski, former leader of the English Chamber Orchestra.
In spring 2003, Nicola, invited as a soloist by London Symphony Orchestra and produced by Mattel Inc., participated in the recording of the DVD titled "Barbie in Swan Lake" at Abbey Road Studios. In October 2003, as the extra feature on this DVD, "Playing With Passion" was filmed and released by Mattel. BBC Scotland, using this DVD, filmed the documentary of Nicola Benedetti and her life with violin and broadcast it on national UK television in March 2004.
At the age of 16, she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in May 2004, performing Karol Szymanowski's First Violin Concerto, which was not an obvious choice, in the final at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. Because of this brilliant victory, she won the music section of the Top Scot award in December 2005.
At the end of 2004, she agreed to a £1m six-album recordings contract with Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Group Classics and Jazz.
Throughout the 2004-2005 season, Nicola took part in many prestigious engagements, including her solo recital debut at Wigmore Hall, royal events in Holyrood Palace and Windsor Castle for Her Majesty the Queen, and the Opening Ceremony of the new Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh. Further performances included various joint ones with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, London Mozart Players, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and so on.
Her debut album released on the Deutsche Grammophon label in April 2005 included Szymanowski's Concerto No. 1, the Chausson Poème, the Havanaise by Saint-Saëns, and a trio of contemplative miniatures by Massenet, Brahms (arranged by Jascha Heifetz) and John Tavener, the last of which, Fragment for the Virgin, was written for and performed by Nicola.
On June 2, 2005 she started her debut US tour with a performance for the exclusive Academy of Achievement Summit at New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center, where she played the "Meditation" from Thaïs. She resumed her debut US tour in recitals at La Jolla's Neurosciences Institute, San Diego, California with the La Jolla Music Society on October 5, 2005, at New York's Merkin Concert Hall of Kaufman Center on November 1, 2005, at the Peace Center Concert Hall, Greenville, South Carolina, with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra on November 5, 2005, and others.
In the meanwhile, on Saturday, September 10, 2005, Nicola made "BBC Prom in the Park" debut with the BBC Concert Orchestra in Hyde Park, London.
In 2005 Nicola also undertook a tour of UK schools in conjunction with the CLIC Sargent Cancer Care for Children Practice-a-thon, which aimed to encourage people of all ages to find pleasure in music and pick up their instruments. |
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