Nicola Benedetti (Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti) is a Scottish violinist and teacher born (in West
Kilbride) on July 20, 1987. (West
Kilbride is a very small village located about 33 miles west of Glasgow) She is known for being a child prodigy. She is a left handed person who plays right handed (as is Caroline Goulding and as was Higinio Ruvalcaba.) She began her violin studies with Brenda
Smith at age 4. By age 8, she was the
concertmaster of the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. In September of 1997, she began studying at
the Yehudi Menuhin School. She was 10
years old. There, she studied with
Natasha Boyarskaya. She made her public
debut one year later at Wigmore Hall in London.
I don’t know what piece (or pieces) she played then.
Her later teachers included Pavel Vernikov (concertmaster of the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe, according to one source - see comment) and Maciej Rakowski,
concertmaster of the English Chamber Orchestra.
She has received quite a number of awards, too numerous to mention; however,
as far as I know, she has never entered a major violin competition. By her late teens, she was already an
established concertizing artist. She
also formed a piano trio in 2008. Benedetti
has played a Stradivarius from 1717 (the Gariel Stradivarius, previously owned
by Jaime Laredo) and the Earl Spencer Stradivarius (1712 or 1723) which she is
probably currently playing. Her
discography is not extensive (quite understandably, given that there’s not much
repertory left to record - new concertos are not worth recording and every
standard concerto has already been recorded dozens of times by very prominent
and some not-so-prominent artists.) Here
is one YouTube video of her playing.
Photo is courtesy of Simon Fowler.
Alina Ibragimova is a Russian violinist born (in Polevskov) on September
28, 1985. She is known for playing on
modern as well as period instruments – equally well. She is also known for having played at Yehudi
Menuhin’s funeral in Westminster Abby in 1999, at age 13. She began her violin studies with her mother at
age four. She then entered the
well-known Gnessin Music School in Moscow at age five, studying under Valentina
Korolkova, a familiar name in Russia but not anywhere else. In 1996, at age ten, she relocated to London
with her family and began studying at the Yehudi Menuhin School. Her main teacher was Natalya Boyarskaya, also
known as Natasha Boyarsky. She spent six
years there then moved on to The Royal Academy of Music (Guildhall School of
Music) and finally the Royal College of Music, from which she graduated in the
summer of 2007. Her main teacher there
was Gordan Nikolitch. She was 21 years
old. She has been concertizing ever
since and has played with some of the major orchestras in the world. Along the way, she founded a quartet – the
Chiaroscuro Quartet – which plays on period instruments. The quartet does not play on a regular basis
since all of its members (Pablo Benedi, Emelie Hornlund, and Claire Thirion)
have independent careers. Ibragimova has
recently conducted the Academy of Ancient Music, the famous period instrument
ensemble based in England. Her exclusive record
label is Hyperion Records and her discography so far includes 9 CDs on that and the Wigmore Hall Live labels. She also, of course, has a
website, which contains extensive information about her, including all of her future engagements, which are considerable. YouTube has several videos of
her playing, one of which is here. Ibragimova
has played a 1738 Pietro Guarneri violin since 2006 – a violin provided her by
industrialist Georg von Opel. However, she is currently playing a 1775 violin by Anselmo Bellosio (a Venetian violin maker who died young), also provided by Mr. von Opel.
