«Nicola Benedetti plays with brilliant virtuosity, absolute clarity, and a gentle, dolce tone that makes her performances especially personal and attractive. She is one of the youngest and most alluring of this species [violinists] to emerge in the past decade.» (The Irish Independent)
For the first time in Montreal! Recipient of numerous competition prizes, the Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti has been dazzling music lovers from the UK and throughout Europe with her immense musicality and remarkable poise. Still in her early twenties and already a true phenomenon, she combines luminous sound and precision with a magnetic power of communication, captivating audiences and critics alike. The Times recently wrote about her: “It was thrilling to hear and watch Nicola Benedetti in a truly risk-taking performance that lived so much in the body and fused the sinews of the violin and the nerve-system of the player.”
Of Italian origins, Nicola Benedetti was born in Scotland and began playing the violin at age 5. At age 10, she entered the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Natacha Boiarskaia. She then pursued her studies in London with Maciej Rakowski and in Vienna with Pavel Vernikov.
Nicola Benedetti was invited to perform during prestigious events, such as the opening of the Scottish Parliament in the presence of the Queen of England at Windsor Castle, as well as the G8 Summit in Gleneagles. As a soloist, she has performed with leading orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester of Berlin, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist and chamber music performer, Nicola Benedetti performed among other locations at the Lincoln Center, the Boston Gardner Museum, Wigmore Hall, and the Verbier Music Festival.
She has signed an exclusivity contract with Universal/Deutsche Gramophon, and plays the Gariel Stradivarius (1717), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.
Nicola Benedetti will be accompanied by pianist Alexei Grynyuk. “Master of a transparent and sovereign touch… an astonishing personality with an absolutely transcendental virtuosity”. (‘Le Figaro’, Paris). Kiev-born pianist Alexei Grynyuk displayed a tremendous interest in music from his early childhood, and at just six years old started giving his first concerts. He garnered a wide attention at the age of thirteen when he won the first prize at the Sergei Diaghilev All-Soviet-Union piano competition in Moscow. By then, he had already been touring Eastern Europe as a soloist as well as performing Mozart and Chopin piano concertos with Ukrainian orchestras. He went on to win numerous awards at international piano competitions, including first prizes at the Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev and the Shanghai International Piano Competition in China. Equally at home with the Classical, Romantic and Twentieth-Century repertoire, Alexei Grynyuk has been invited to give recitals at many prestigious venues and festivals around the world. Enjoying world-wide critical acclaim, Alexei Grynyuk’s performances were described by ‘Chopin’ Magazine in Tokyo as …overwhelming with divine purity…majestic… he has captured the audience with a deep musicality… a crystal clear and beautiful tone… a dignified, beautifully structured performance.” His Wigmore Hall recital was praised by ‘Musical Opinion’ for its “breathtaking technical accomplishment and musicianship of the highest order.”
Click here to view a video of Pinchas Zukerman speaking about Nicola Benedetti and the mighty Sibelius Violin Concerto.
For a video about Nicola Benedetti’s young career, click here.
For a video featuring Nicola Benedetti performing Bach’s famous Chaconne, click here.
PROGRAMME :
- Beethoven: Sonata No. 7 in C minor for violin and piano
- Brahms: Sonata No. 1 in G major for violin and piano
- Strauss: Sonata in E flat major for violin and piano