Biography
Violin
Nicola Benedetti
Nicola Benedetti appears this season with the Cincinnati Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She made her San Francisco Symphony debut at the 2012 New Year’s Eve concert, and made her subscription debut in March 2017, an became a Shenson Young Artist in 2020.
Winner of the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, as well as Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Benedetti records exclusively for Decca. In 2021, BBC Music Magazine named her “Personality of the Year” for her online support of many young musicians during the pandemic.
In 2019, she established the Benedetti Foundation, which delivers transformative experiences through mass music events and unites those who believe music is integral to life’s education. In its first four years, the foundation has worked with close to 70,000 participants of all ages and levels, instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists alike, across 105 countries. Its free online educational video resources have had more than six million views.
Benedetti was appointed a CBE in 2019, awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017, and an MBE in 2013. In addition, she holds the positions of vice president of the National Children’s Orchestras; “big sister” for Sistema Scotland; and patron of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland’s Junior Orchestra, Music in Secondary Schools Trust, and Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2022, Benedetti became the festival director of the Edinburgh International Festival, becoming both the first Scottish and first female director since its beginning in 1947.
Winner of the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto, as well as Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Benedetti records exclusively for Decca. In 2021, BBC Music Magazine named her “Personality of the Year” for her online support of many young musicians during the pandemic.
In 2019, she established the Benedetti Foundation, which delivers transformative experiences through mass music events and unites those who believe music is integral to life’s education. In its first four years, the foundation has worked with close to 70,000 participants of all ages and levels, instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists alike, across 105 countries. Its free online educational video resources have had more than six million views.
Benedetti was appointed a CBE in 2019, awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017, and an MBE in 2013. In addition, she holds the positions of vice president of the National Children’s Orchestras; “big sister” for Sistema Scotland; and patron of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland’s Junior Orchestra, Music in Secondary Schools Trust, and Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2022, Benedetti became the festival director of the Edinburgh International Festival, becoming both the first Scottish and first female director since its beginning in 1947.
