Nicola Benedetti is a woman of her word. In the midst of one of her busiest years ever and that’s saying something she is coming to Dundee to take part in the second City of Discovery Charity Concert as guest soloist, playing with the RSNO in virtuoso music for the violin by Max Bruch and Pablo Sarasate.
It’s part of a long-standing commitment on the part of one of the world’s most acclaimed and in-demand musicians.
“Any charity concert with the specific aim of raising funds for cancer support is something I would try to do,” she explained.
“But with this event, I met the organisers a while ago and was really drawn in by their belief in their concert ideas and what they were trying to achieve. So having agreed in principle with that, I definitely wasn’t going to go back on my word!”
Her appearance tonight brings her together with the RSNO for a performance of the final movement of Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy and the vividly characterised Zigeunerweisen (Gipsy Airs) of the virtuoso Spanish player and composer Sarasate.
These pieces are meat and drink to her and to her audience. When Benedetti plays, you get not only a stunning and technically gifted musician but also a world-class communicator of her art.
She is the first to admit, however, that it isn’t always easy to get your priorities in place in the increasingly frantic and demanding world of international classical playing. She’s not one for the celebrity culture circuit and resolutely guards her privacy. But talking about her music her life and her passion she is as fluent and convincing as when she is on the concert platform.
“It is very difficult to get time to do all the things you want to do. You can be pulled in all directions and I do find that a real strain at times.
“Everyone has to follow their career aspirations and make that their priority but when there are other areas you are interested in, I think you also have to try to make time for those. There are ways that I want to educate myself, to develop what I want to play and how to play it. And at the same time, I’ve got more and more interested in encouraging and supporting other young players in doing that too.”
With one of the stated aims of the City of Discovery Charity Concert being not only to fund-raise but also to inspire young people into performing and appreciating the best of classical music, this ties in particularly well with one of Nicola Benedetti’s current interests.
She is a Big Sister and active supporter of the Big Noise Orchestra, the children’s orchestra of the Sistema Scotland project based at Raploch in Stirling, where kids from a deprived community have been given the chance to learn instruments and play in a symphony orchestra setting.
This is the Scottish offshoot of a movement established in the mid-70s in Venezuela and Nicola has played with the youngsters in workshops, masterclasses and performances. In July, she is heading out to Venezuela for the first time to work with the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra which over 30 years has grown out of the original El Sistema into one of the major orchestras of the world.
Nicola explained, “It’s been great being involved in the Scottish side of El Sistema through the Big Noise Project but I’m very keen to spend time in Venezuela seeing things with my own eyes and experiencing their music-making at first hand.
“I very much wanted to go there directly because you can always trust your own eyes and ears and be sure that, after that, you 100% know what you’re talking about.”
When Nicola Benedetti takes on a project, she sees it through, come what may.
As to the rest of her busy schedule “I’m doing quite a lot this year” she says with some understatement she has performances lined up in England, Turkey, France and Ireland before she sets off for South America.
As well as appearances with the great orchestras of the world, playing some of the most demanding classical and contemporary works, she is also continuing with her chamber trio work.
That was showcased in her recent recording Fantasie and she reckons it is a wonderful extra string to her playing bow. “The emphasis of what I do will always remain in the concert hall, I think but I love playing with the trio, it adds another dimension. And the repertoire is wonderful!”
Earlier this year, she released a CD of the great violin concertos of Tchaikovsky and Bruch and played the lesser-known but very beautiful violin concerto by Korngold, probably best known for his film scores, in Glasgow.
That is music she really loves. “It was very challenging, something new for me and I think it’s one I’ll go back to a lot. I’m also working on a Stravinsky concerto at the moment and that’s quite spectacular, as is most of Stravinsky’s music.”
And the playing, too, of Nicola Benedetti.
Nicola Benedetti is appearing, with the RSNO and fellow guest artiste Laura McGhee, at the Caird Hall tonight at 7.30pm for the second City of Discovery Charity Concert, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.