Post by roger on May 25, 2006 8:58:56 GMT
From the Daily Record
EXCLUSIVE: 'I'VE HAD TO PLAY VIOLIN IN SOME STRANGE PLACES'
Exclusive STRONG WORK ETHIC LEADS NICOLA BENEDETTI TO THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
By Rick Fulton
CLASSICAL superstar Nicola Benedetti's jetset lifestyle can leave her in a pickle when it's time to practise her violin.
The driven 18-year-old plays for at least six hours every day - so has had to pick up her bow in some unusual places.
One such place was the car-hire unit at Sante Fe airport in New Mexico last year when her plane was delayed .
She said: "It was my New York debut the next day. All the flights were cancelled or delayed and I wasn't going to arrive until midnight, which was too late to practise.
"It was an emergency. I asked some nice people at a car-hire shop at the airport if I could use their space and managed to get almost an hour."
Jumping between Britain, America and to Japan is a regular part of her life now.
In fact, the young Scot, from West Kilbride in Ayrshire, seems to rush from one concert to the next and admits much of her hectic pace is down to her desire to practise.
For her, there's no resting on the success of her second album, Mendelssohn MacMillan Mozart, which entered at No2 in the classical album charts on Sunday.
She laughed: "I'll practise anywhere. I've done it in bathrooms - not necessarily toilets - but the acoustics are terrible and they are far too echoey.
"I try and get six hours in a day. That's what makes life feel so hectic. I sometimes can't practise every day if I'm performing or flying, but I even try to control them to make sure they're at a time when I'm not thinking I should be practising."
Talking to Nicola, her passion to succeed makes it easy to forget she's still a teenager.
She was only four when she took up the violin and admits she cried throughout her first lesson.
Her parents weren't musical and it was her older sister Stephanie, then eight, who had wanted to play violin.
It was only wanting to follow in her footsteps that led Nicola to her instrument.
Nicola said: "We started learning violin together. She is also a great player and does alot of quintet work.
"I can't imagine we'd do a duet though, as we do very different things.
"We don't see each other enough, so when we do we've got so much to talk about that has nothing to do with violins."
At eight, Nicola led the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland, passed all eight violin grades by her ninth birthday and, just over one year later, left home to study at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin school in Surrey.
At 11, she and one other pupil toured with Lord Menuhin then, the following year, she performed a solo at his memorial service at Westminster Abbey.
She left the Menuhin School in 2002 when she was 15 and has since studied privately with Maciej Rakowski, who lives near Nicola's current home in London. By 2004, and still just 16, she became the first Scot to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year and signed a £1million, six-album recording contract months later.
Nicola laughs: "I guess I did take off like a shot as soon as I learned to play.
"But I don't always feel like that as with my practice it's always got to be as calm and focused as possible."
But, of course, her hours of dedicated practice do pay off.
Last year, her debut album Szymanowski Chausson Saint-Saens went straight into the classical charts, beating stars Nigel Kennedy and Vanessa-Mae to make the fastest selling debut violin album of all time.
NICOLA is hailed as the best violinist of her generation and was even given the honour of performing at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
Now music fans around the globe are clamouring to see her perform.
Earlier this month, she was the subject of a BBC documentary.
In July she'll play in Germany, in September she goes to China and In October and November she'll be in America and Canada.
And, in August, she will co-host one of the BBC's Prom nights, a violin special at the Royal Albert Hall. It's a hectic diary and, although the Proms date is "very exciting", she admits she's tired.
She has no time to find a boyfriend, but has understanding friends who pick up with her when they can.
Nicola said: "I get a modest amount of time for myself. Because I'm enjoying it, it's not such a big deal, really.
"If I begrudged it I'd feel a need for some chill-out time, but I enjoy it.
"I've got really good friends and people that I know are going to be there for me who I can absolutely trust and who understand if you don't have time to call and keep up-to-date with everything.
"I take one concert at a time and make sure they are all successful, make sure I perform my best at every one and, hopefully, it will continue for a while."
Of course, given her meteoric rise there have been snipers.
One broadsheet claimed she was a "sort of classical Britney Spears" and queried whether she'd have got top billing for concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra if she wasn't a young female.
She admits claims she is all about image are "frustrating", adding: "I couldn't do this if I wasn't playing at a standard that is up there with those I'm sharing a stage with.
"I actually have to stand up on stage and play the violin."
While her first album could arguably have been hyped, the success of her second proves people want to listen to her music not look at her picture.
Her debut included the Szymanowski concerto she played to win Young Musician of the Year but the music on her new album will be new to many.
She said: "I am happy with the second album. I think it's a development - that is the main thing, to show improvement.
"I didn't think about people's expectations of the new album.
"I made sure I was focused and just concentrated on what I wanted the end result to be."
And the teenager insists she was not upset at missing out on a Classical BRIT Award earlier this month.
She'd had two nominations for Album Of The Year for her debut and for Young British Classical Performer.
But she said: "There were no expectations. I just had a really good time.
"The things that mean the most to me are the personal achievements and what I feel when I've achieved something - as opposed to someone else telling me I've achieved something.
"It's very easy to take what others tell you but, really, you know in yourself how well you are doing."
While she has a reported £1million contract, she denies insuring her hands or spoiling herself with extravagant gifts.
She said: "I'm not one to splash out and buy lovely things for myself.
"I've always got to buy dresses for my concerts. But other than that I'm usually too busy to shop."
Roger
EXCLUSIVE: 'I'VE HAD TO PLAY VIOLIN IN SOME STRANGE PLACES'
Exclusive STRONG WORK ETHIC LEADS NICOLA BENEDETTI TO THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
By Rick Fulton
CLASSICAL superstar Nicola Benedetti's jetset lifestyle can leave her in a pickle when it's time to practise her violin.
The driven 18-year-old plays for at least six hours every day - so has had to pick up her bow in some unusual places.
One such place was the car-hire unit at Sante Fe airport in New Mexico last year when her plane was delayed .
She said: "It was my New York debut the next day. All the flights were cancelled or delayed and I wasn't going to arrive until midnight, which was too late to practise.
"It was an emergency. I asked some nice people at a car-hire shop at the airport if I could use their space and managed to get almost an hour."
Jumping between Britain, America and to Japan is a regular part of her life now.
In fact, the young Scot, from West Kilbride in Ayrshire, seems to rush from one concert to the next and admits much of her hectic pace is down to her desire to practise.
For her, there's no resting on the success of her second album, Mendelssohn MacMillan Mozart, which entered at No2 in the classical album charts on Sunday.
She laughed: "I'll practise anywhere. I've done it in bathrooms - not necessarily toilets - but the acoustics are terrible and they are far too echoey.
"I try and get six hours in a day. That's what makes life feel so hectic. I sometimes can't practise every day if I'm performing or flying, but I even try to control them to make sure they're at a time when I'm not thinking I should be practising."
Talking to Nicola, her passion to succeed makes it easy to forget she's still a teenager.
She was only four when she took up the violin and admits she cried throughout her first lesson.
Her parents weren't musical and it was her older sister Stephanie, then eight, who had wanted to play violin.
It was only wanting to follow in her footsteps that led Nicola to her instrument.
Nicola said: "We started learning violin together. She is also a great player and does alot of quintet work.
"I can't imagine we'd do a duet though, as we do very different things.
"We don't see each other enough, so when we do we've got so much to talk about that has nothing to do with violins."
At eight, Nicola led the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland, passed all eight violin grades by her ninth birthday and, just over one year later, left home to study at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin school in Surrey.
At 11, she and one other pupil toured with Lord Menuhin then, the following year, she performed a solo at his memorial service at Westminster Abbey.
She left the Menuhin School in 2002 when she was 15 and has since studied privately with Maciej Rakowski, who lives near Nicola's current home in London. By 2004, and still just 16, she became the first Scot to win the BBC Young Musician of the Year and signed a £1million, six-album recording contract months later.
Nicola laughs: "I guess I did take off like a shot as soon as I learned to play.
"But I don't always feel like that as with my practice it's always got to be as calm and focused as possible."
But, of course, her hours of dedicated practice do pay off.
Last year, her debut album Szymanowski Chausson Saint-Saens went straight into the classical charts, beating stars Nigel Kennedy and Vanessa-Mae to make the fastest selling debut violin album of all time.
NICOLA is hailed as the best violinist of her generation and was even given the honour of performing at the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.
Now music fans around the globe are clamouring to see her perform.
Earlier this month, she was the subject of a BBC documentary.
In July she'll play in Germany, in September she goes to China and In October and November she'll be in America and Canada.
And, in August, she will co-host one of the BBC's Prom nights, a violin special at the Royal Albert Hall. It's a hectic diary and, although the Proms date is "very exciting", she admits she's tired.
She has no time to find a boyfriend, but has understanding friends who pick up with her when they can.
Nicola said: "I get a modest amount of time for myself. Because I'm enjoying it, it's not such a big deal, really.
"If I begrudged it I'd feel a need for some chill-out time, but I enjoy it.
"I've got really good friends and people that I know are going to be there for me who I can absolutely trust and who understand if you don't have time to call and keep up-to-date with everything.
"I take one concert at a time and make sure they are all successful, make sure I perform my best at every one and, hopefully, it will continue for a while."
Of course, given her meteoric rise there have been snipers.
One broadsheet claimed she was a "sort of classical Britney Spears" and queried whether she'd have got top billing for concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra if she wasn't a young female.
She admits claims she is all about image are "frustrating", adding: "I couldn't do this if I wasn't playing at a standard that is up there with those I'm sharing a stage with.
"I actually have to stand up on stage and play the violin."
While her first album could arguably have been hyped, the success of her second proves people want to listen to her music not look at her picture.
Her debut included the Szymanowski concerto she played to win Young Musician of the Year but the music on her new album will be new to many.
She said: "I am happy with the second album. I think it's a development - that is the main thing, to show improvement.
"I didn't think about people's expectations of the new album.
"I made sure I was focused and just concentrated on what I wanted the end result to be."
And the teenager insists she was not upset at missing out on a Classical BRIT Award earlier this month.
She'd had two nominations for Album Of The Year for her debut and for Young British Classical Performer.
But she said: "There were no expectations. I just had a really good time.
"The things that mean the most to me are the personal achievements and what I feel when I've achieved something - as opposed to someone else telling me I've achieved something.
"It's very easy to take what others tell you but, really, you know in yourself how well you are doing."
While she has a reported £1million contract, she denies insuring her hands or spoiling herself with extravagant gifts.
She said: "I'm not one to splash out and buy lovely things for myself.
"I've always got to buy dresses for my concerts. But other than that I'm usually too busy to shop."
Roger
