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.
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 her international music career and work with musical charities throughout the U.K. In addition, Nicola has received five honorary degrees to date.
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.
With her regular duo partner, pianist Alexei Grynyuk, Nicola frequently performs recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and festivals with most recent and future highlights including Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cheltenham Festival, Sydney Opera House Utzon Room, Seoul Performing Arts Centre, the Sapienza in Rome, Innsbruck Tiroler Konzervatorium, Trieste Politeama Rossetti, Sociedad Filamonica de Bilbao, Subculture New York, Gardner Museum Boston and Schwetzingen and Dresden Musikfestpieles.
Nicola is also a devoted chamber musician and collaborates with cellist Leonard Elschenbroichand pianist Alexei Grynyuk, who have been performing as a trio since 2008. Recent and future performances include Royal Albert Hall London, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Edinburgh Usher Hall, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, LSO St. Luke’s, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Die Glocke Bremen, Hong Kong City Hall, two tours of South America, and at the Edinburgh, Ravinia, Schloss Elmau and Cheltenham Festivals.
Winner of Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Nicola records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music). The enormous success of Nicola’s most recent recording, Homecoming; A Scottish Fantasy, made Nicola the first solo British violinist since the 1990s to enter the Top 20 of the Official UK Albums Chart. The Silver Violin, also enjoyed a similar success in reaching No. 30 in the UK Albums Chart simultaneously to topping the classical charts. 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).
Kiev-born pianist Alexei Grynyuk displayed tremendous interest in music from his early childhood and at just six years old started giving his first concerts. He attracted wide attention at the age of thirteen when he won the first prize at the Sergei Diaghilev All-Soviet-Union piano competition in Moscow. By then he had already been touring Eastern Europe as a soloist as well as performing Mozart and Chopin piano concertos with Ukrainian orchestras.
Later he went on to achieve numerous awards at international piano competitions including first prizes at the Vladimir Horowitz International Piano Competition in Kiev and the Shanghai International Piano Competition in China.
Equally at home in Classical, Romantic and Twentieth-Century repertoire Alexei Grynyuk has been invited to give solo recitals at many prestigious venues and festivals around the world, among them the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatoire, Wigmore Hall and the South Bank Centre in London, and the Salle Cortot and Salle Gaveau in Paris.
Enjoying world-wide critical acclaim Alexei Grynyuk was described by ‘Le Figaro’ as a “…master of transparent and sovereign touch…astonishing personality and absolutely transcendental virtuosity”.
Last season besides the successful concerto appearances with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic and Krakow Philharmonic Alexei Grynyuk celebrated an evening of Liszt’s Bicentennial in Kiev performing the composer’s B minor Sonata followed by both piano concertos.
Leonard Elschenbroich has excited interest as one of the most charismatic cellists of his generation since receiving the Leonard Bernstein award at the opening concert of the 2009 Schleswig Holstein Festival, following his performance of the Brahms Double with Anne Sophie Mutter under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach. Since then, Leonard joined the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist scheme in 2012, a prestigious award offering performances and recordings with all the BBC orchestras and at the BBC Proms. In 2012, Leonard became Artistic Mentor of the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bolivia, the country’s first national orchestra. As Artistic Mentor, he performs regularly with the orchestra and invites international soloists and conductors such as Nicola Benedetti, Philippe Quint, Edicson Ruiz and Reinhold Friedrich.
He has worked with a number of eminent conductors, including Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Charles Dutoit, Manfred Honeck, Kirill Karabits, Dmitri Kitajenko, Andrew Litton, Yan-Pascal Tortelier and Vasily Sinasiky. As a soloist he has performed with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthaus Orchester Berlin, Swedish Radio Symphony, Basel Symphony Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Chicago Symphony Orchestra,. He made his debut at the Musikverein in Vienna with the Dresden Staatskapelle on a European tour. Leonard has performed at BBC Proms, most recently in 2014 with BBC Philharmonic and John Storgards, and in 2013 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Charles Dutoit.
His debut CD (Rachmaninov Cello Sonata and Shostakovich Viola Sonata), released on Onyx Classics in 2013, received 5 star reviews from The Telegraph, The Guardian and BBC Music Magazine (Choice of the Month).
Leonard Elschenbroich has given recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Auditorium du Louvre, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Lucerne Festival, the Gstaad Festival, the Istanbul International Festival, the Rheingau, Mecklenburg Vorpommern, and Schleswig Holstein Festival, where he performed the complete Beethoven sonatas with Christoph Eschenbach. On tour in South America, he has performed with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic at the Teatro Colon and given recitals in Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Lima and Sao Paulo.
Leonard also plays chamber music regularly with Nicola Benedetti and Alexei Grynyuk, performing at the BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, Usher Hall, Hong Kong International Festival, Istanbul Festival, Sala Sao Paulo, and Ravinia Festival.