Nicola Benedetti

1987年7月出生于苏格兰艾尔郡，4岁时受到8岁的姐姐斯特芬妮(Stephanie，小提琴演奏家)的影响开始学琴。她的母亲每天开车一小时，把姐妹俩从家送到学校，声称如果不好好学，就把小提琴没收。意大利裔的父亲乔万尼-贝纳德蒂(Giovanni Benedetti)是英国著名商人，拥有数千万英镑的资产，然而小富家女并没有因家境优越而在学业上有所倦怠，尼古拉9岁就通过了小提琴八级的考试，她曾说：“我从来不认为自己是个天生的小提琴家，唯一的秘诀就是认真练琴。”
 
成长经历
 
1997年，刚过10岁生日，尼古拉便接到了梅纽因音乐学校的录取通知书。11岁时，尼古拉已经在梅纽因指挥的巡演中，与学校管乐团一起演出巴赫的《d小调双小提琴协奏曲》了。据说在梅纽因去世前计划中的合作名单上，除了拉妮-米契尔(Priya Mitchell)、张莎拉(Sarah Chang)和瓦迪姆-列宾(Vadim Repin)外，还有一位便是年仅12岁的尼古拉。14岁时，尼古拉迎来了演奏生涯中的第一个里程碑：她一举夺得英国杰出天才比赛大奖(Britain Brilliant Prodigy Competition)。不久之后，尼古拉就因各种演出邀请而无法兼顾学业，“既要参加各种演出，又要参与学校的众多音乐会，我实在难以做到两全”。顶着老师和家长的双重压力，尼古拉毅然从梅纽因音乐学校退学，转而聘请英国室内乐团前小提琴首席马切伊-拉科夫斯基(Maciej Rakowski)做私人辅导。17岁时，成为2004年BBC年度青年音乐家得主，被小报称为“苏格兰最性感的明星”，她拒绝了模特公司的邀请，打算致力于改变古典音乐在年轻人中的形象。
 
无论运气和实力的比例如何分配，总之一路战绩辉煌的苏格兰女孩又成了BBC眼中的“天之娇女”，从而顺利进入主流媒体的视线。一个月后，她在2004年度英国最大的户外狂欢音乐节格拉斯顿伯里音乐节(Glastonbury Festival)上面对上万观众演奏，又在爱丁堡边缘艺术节(Edinburgh Festival Fringe)上与苏格兰室内乐团合作。同年10月，尼古拉在新苏格兰议会大厦落成仪式上为女王陛下献演。
 
在更为关心少女成长的部分英国媒体看来，这份基础过于薄弱而风光来得过早的演奏生涯，显得有些“畸形”，到了这个份上，女孩的心理和生理上都有透支之嫌。每年一张专辑，之后是紧锣密鼓的宣传巡演，最忙的时候，尼古拉几乎每两天就要开一场音乐会。上海演出前，怕耽误大事，仅答应接受10-15分钟的简短采访，但就在演出前一天，又不明原因地匆忙取消，即便是邮件采访，尼古拉也因“总在巡演路上”为由，拖延了近一个月才回复。面对英国媒体也好，接受本报采访中也好，尼古拉不止一次地反复重申，打算逐年减少音乐会的数量，但这同她与日俱增的知名度之间，似乎又有难以化解的矛盾。 在上海音乐会上，一头蜷曲金色长发的尼古拉身材挺拔，演奏门德尔松的《e小调小提琴协奏曲》时，身体剧烈晃动，展现出无限的青春活力。但是平日里，尼古拉更愿意给世人留下一个“乖乖女”形象，她对《独立报》说，自己从小接受正统的古典音乐教育，对陈美等跨界音乐人的道路提不起兴趣。接受《镜报》的采访时，她又表示：“我从不去酒吧，也不爱喝酒、抽烟，几乎从不尝试稍显奔放的衣服。”
 
于是，媒体纷纷将“苏格兰玉女”的帽子往她头上按，尼古拉不仅被视为苏格兰的骄傲，更被英国国内众多知名作曲家寄予厚望。她的苏格兰老乡詹姆斯-麦克米伦(James MacMillan)以及英格兰作曲家约翰-塔文纳(JohnTavener)本都以创作具有深刻宗教精神的作品著称，却也心甘情愿为尼古拉创作作品，两部献给她的协奏曲《Fragment for the Virgin》和《From Ayrshire》分别被她收录在第一和第二张专辑中。
 
不仅如此，尼古拉更是勇担重任，视自己为推广古典音乐的“青年代表”，个人官方网站的名称就是“尼古拉邀您加入到音乐”(Nicola Benedetti invites you to take part in Music)。除演出和录制唱片外，从2005年起，她还跟随“萨金特儿童癌症关护实践机构”(CLICSargent)遍访英国的学校，鼓励所有的小朋友学习乐器，引导他们热爱古典音乐。2006年初，她在苏格兰格拉斯哥的犹太国家基金大会上为美国前国务卿鲍威尔演奏，同时，她还被聘为联合国儿童基金会的爱心大使。
 
很难想象，这是一个21岁的女孩必须面对的生活：每天超过6小时的练琴时间，外加慈善、教育、音乐会、唱片公司、媒体---周旋其中，每一样都要保持良好状态，这听起来多少让人觉得有些残忍。在接受英国媒体采访时，尼古拉时不时会掩饰不住“累”，坚强的外表下，一颗疲惫的心溢于言表。但在接受本报采访时，尼古拉却不愿意让中国读者知道这一点，或者说，她更愿意相信自己能承担这一切。她说：“音乐是我的热情所在，理想所在，我愿为它倾尽所有。”
 
(by Hilary950922)
 
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‘…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.’  - Hilary Finch, The Times
 
Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought after violinists of her generation. Her ability to captivate audiences with her innate musicianship and dynamic presence, coupled with her wide appeal as a high profile advocate for classical music, has made her one of the most influential classical artists of today.
 
With concerto performances at the heart of her career, Nicola is in much demand with major orchestras and conductors across the globe. Recent and future performances include engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro La Fenice, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, WDR Cologne, Danish National Symphony, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Orchestre National D’Ile de France, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C., Dallas Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Vancouver Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Melbourne Symphony and Hong Kong Philharmonic amongst others. Nicola will also embark on tours with the Bergen Philharmonic (Germany), Camerata Salzburg and BBC Scottish Symphony (India).
 
The 14/15 season will see Nicola further her passion for music of the Italian Baroque and historical performance realized in collaborations with Andrea Marcon and WDR Cologne, Venice Baroque Orchestra and a European tour with La Cetra Barokorchester Basel.
 
These international appearances have resulted in her working with a host of distinguished conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Stéphane Denève, Christoph Eschenbach, James Gaffigan, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Jakub Hrusa, Louis Langrée, Andrew Litton, Jiří Bělohlávek, Sir Neville Marriner, Diego Matheuz, Kristjan Järvi, Neeme Jaarvi, Paavo Järvi, Donald Runnicles, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Pinchas Zukerman, and Jaap van Zweden.
 
With her regular duo partner, pianist Alexei Grynyuk, Nicola frequently performs in recital making appearances in in the world’s leading concert halls. Most recently, she performed at the Dresden Musikfestipiele, the Sapienza in Romea and Maison Symphony in Montreal and prior to this has given recitals in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Paris, Sacile, New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. Future recitals include performances at the Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall Birmingham, Aix en Provence and Trieste Italy.
 
Nicola is a devoted chamber musician and collaborates with cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk, who have been performing as a trio since 2008. They recently undertook an extensive tour of Scotland in March 2013 including performances at the Edinburgh Usher Hall and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Recent and future highlights include concerts at LSO St. Luke’s, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Die Glocke Bremen, Hong Kong City Hall, two tours of South America South America and, at the Ravinia, Schloss Elmau, Istanbul and Cheltenham Festivals.
 
Fiercely committed to music education and to developing young talent, Nicola has formed associations with education establishments including schools, music colleges and local authorities. In 2010, she became Sistema Scotland’s official musical ‘Big Sister’ for the Big Noise project; a music initiative partnered with Venezuela’s El Sistema (Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar). As a board member and teacher Nicola embraces her position of role model to encourage young people to take up music and work hard at it, and she continues to spread this message in school visits and masterclasses, not only in Scotland, but all around the world.
 
In addition, Nicola recently developed her own education and outreach initiative entitled The Benedetti Sessions. Piloted in March 2013 at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall, these sessions gave hundreds of aspiring young string players the opportunity to rehearse, undertake and observe masterclasses culminating in a performance alongside Nicola. She will present The Benedetti Sessions at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2013 and Nicola has plans to develop this exciting initiative on an international scale.
 
Winner of Best Female Artist at the 2012 Classical BRIT Awards, Nicola records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music). Her most recent recording, The Silver Violin, is particularly renowned for its success in reaching No. 30 in the UK pop charts simultaneously to topping the classical charts for months. Her past six recordings on Universal/Deutsche Grammophon include a varied catalogue of works including the Szymanowski Concerto (London Symphony Orchestra/Daniel Harding), newly commissioned works by Tavener and The Lark Ascending (London Philharmonic/Andrew Litton), a disc of virtuosic works (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Vasily Petrenko), Tchaikovsky and Bruch Concertos (Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Jakub Hrusa) and most recently Vivaldi, Tartini and Veracini Concerti (Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Christian Curnyn).
 
Nicola was appointed as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours in recognition of both her international music career and for her work with musical charities throughout the UK, and, has to date received five honorary degrees.
 
Born in Scotland of Italian heritage, Nicola began violin lessons at the age of five with Brenda Smith. In 1997, she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Natasha Boyarskaya. Upon leaving, she continued her studies with Maciej Rakowski and then Pavel Vernikov, and continues to work with multiple acclaimed teachers and performers.
 
Nicola plays the Gariel Stradivarius (1717), courtesy of Jonathan Moulds.