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Violinist Nicola Benedetti reveals her most important cultural influences and experiences that have inspired her to become one of the world鈥檚 greatest classical musicians. Having taken up the violin at the age of four, Nicola won the 麻豆官网首页入口 Young Musician of the Year competition at 16. She鈥檚 renowned for the passion of her live concerts, her recordings of the great violin concertos, and for her work with contemporary composers, including a Grammy-winning collaboration with composer Wynton Marsalis. She鈥檚 also deeply involved in educational programmes that use classical music to transform the lives of young people.

For This Cultural Life, Nicola Benedetti recalls her North Ayrshire upbringing and how her Italian parents encouraged her musicality from a young age. She remembers first listening to Brahms鈥檚 Violin Concerto on the car journey to school, a piece that inspired her to seriously pursue her ambitions, becoming the leader of the National Children鈥檚 Orchestra at the age of just eight. She discusses the influence of the great violinist Yehudi Menuhin, whose school she attended until she was 15, and at whose funeral she performed in 1999. Nicola also talks about her work with the Sistema Scotland project, and her own Benedetti Foundation, which promotes musical education. Determined to promote contemporary classical music as well as the traditional repertoire, she discusses her work with Wynton Marsalis and the young British composer Mark Simpson, both of whom have written violin concertos for her.

Producer: Edwina Pitman