Nicola Benedetti interview: 'Uncompromising on quality'

In the last month alone, Nicola Benedetti has performed at the Proms with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO), shaken hands with Nicola Sturgeon as the Scottish first minister congratulated her on becoming the first female director of Edinburgh International Festival, appeared on an episode of This Cultural Life, had a new Violin Concerto by James MacMillan dedicated to her, and has also fitted in an interview for MT. After all, Benedetti's education work is rooted in a ‘long-held sense of duty’, she says, and is a ‘natural extension’ of playing on the stage. Her commitment to the cause goes beyond advocacy and the odd workshop, and in 2019, when the pandemic loomed just out of sight, the violinist set up the Benedetti Foundation, her music education charity with the strapline ‘unite, inspire, educate’.