Violin Café Nicola Benedetti

• Henryk Wieniawski (1835 - 1880): Polonaise de concert in D Major, Op. 4
• 1 Wieniawski: Polonaise de concert in D Major, Op. 4 (Arr. Goss for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello) 05:16
• Samuel Dushkin (1891 - 1976): Sicilienne:
• 2 Dushkin: Sicilienne (Prev. Attrib. Paradis) [Arr. Pochin & Morgan for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello] 03:21
• Peter Maxwell Davies (1934 - 2016): Farewell to Stromness:
• 3 Maxwell Davies: Farewell to Stromness (Arr. Campbell for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello) 03:47
• Pablo de Sarasate (1844 - 1908): Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25:
• 4 Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25 (Arr. Goss for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello): I. Intro. Aragonaise – Habanera 05:33
• 5 Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25 (Arr. Goss for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello): II. Lento assai – En vain pour éviter 05:18
• 6 Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25 (Arr. Goss for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello): III. Seguidilla – Canto gitano 04:30
• Ernest Bloch (1880 - 1959): From Jewish Life, B. 54:
• 7 Bloch: From Jewish Life, B. 54: I. Prayer (Arr. Parkin for Violin, Accordion & Cello) 04:19
• Traditional: Skye Boat Song:
• 8 Traditional: Skye Boat Song (Arr. Chaimbeul & Campbell for Violin & Scottish Smallpipe) 04:32
• Traditional: A' Choille Ghruamach:
• 9 Traditional: A' Choille Ghruamach (Arr. Chaimbeul & Campbell for Violin & Scottish Smallpipe) 04:53
• Traditional: Hacky Honey Reel
• 10 Traditional: Hacky Honey Reel (Arr. Chaimbeul for Violin & Scottish Smallpipe) 02:48
• Manuel Ponce (1882 - 1948): Estrellita:
• 11 Ponce: Estrellita (Arr. Campbell for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello) 03:43
• Pablo de Sarasate: Navarra, Op. 33:
• 12 Sarasate: Navarra, Op. 33 (Arr. Goss for 2 Violins, Guitar, Accordion & Cello) 06:11
• Claude Debussy (1862 - 1918): Beau soir, CD 84:
• 13 Debussy: Beau soir, CD 84 (Arr. Parkin for Violin, Guitar, Accordion & Cello) 02:28
• Total Runtime 56:39

Info for Violin Café

Decca Classics is delighted to announce a brand-new recording from Grammy-award-winning violinist Nicola Benedetti. Violin Café is packed full of popular virtuosic and seductive romantic works, freshly arranged for a new dynamic group of instruments. Soon to be taken on tour, this album reunites Nicola with audiences she has known and been supported by for over 22 years. This is a thank you to the people of all ages, from all across the UK and around the world, who share a deep love of classical music and the violin, whose children Nicola has taught after concerts and whose curiosity of the arts she shares.

This inventive new line-up of instruments delivers a communal, conversational ‘evening cafe appropriate’ sound. A sound with the flexibility to work across genres, cultures and performance environments. The guitar and accordion are beloved around the world, and in the masterful hands of Samuele Telari and Plínio Fernandes, these intelligent, creative arrangements have breathed new life into violin virtuosic classics and seductive lilting melodie. The cello brings an indispensable resonance and grounding in the hands of Thomas Caroll. Nicola is also joined by the wonderful Brìghde Chaimbeul (smallpipes) for the traditional Scottish set, and virtuoso Yume Fujise (violin) for Sarasate’s Navarra.

The Repertoire includes Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasie and Navarra, and Wieniawki’s Polonaise arranged by Steve Goss; Ponce’s Estrellita and Maxwell-Davis’ Farewell to Stromness arranged by Paul Campbell; Bloch’s Prayer and Debussy’s Beau Soir arranged by Simon Parkin, Sicilienne arranged by Juliette Pochin and arrangements of traditional Scottish music by piper Brìghde Chaimbeul.

Singles from Violin Café will be released on 10 October (Farewell to Stromness) and 24 October (Skye Boat Song) and 7 November (Sicilienne) in the lead-up to the full album being available from 21 November.

Nicola embarks on her first solo tour of the UK and Ireland in over 10 years, performing repertoire from Violin Café in 14 venues across the UK and Ireland from 12 October.

Nicola Benedetti commented, ‘The ensemble combination of violin, guitar, accordion and cello came to me in the middle of the night. The standard violin and piano duo has a formality I knew wasn’t right, and this line-up of instruments delivers a communal, conversational ‘cafe appropriate’ sound. Our first rehearsal, given we were tackling brand new arrangements for the first time, had a higher dose of anticipation than is normal. But as we tore through one arrangement after another, we became increasingly bound as a group. We discovered the humour, textural wit and instrumental virtuosity of Stephen Goss’ ‘Carmen Fantasy’. We indulged in the conversational polyphony and sweet sonority of Juliette Ponchin and James Morgan’s ‘Sicilienne’. We were challenged and inspired to bring our best playing to the integrity of Paul Campbell’s ‘Farewell to Stromness’. We searched and gazed our way through the layering of Simon Parkin’s tender ‘Beau Soir’. And I was hypnotised and compelled to follow the stillness, darkness and present-ness of the formidable Bridghe Chaimbeul.’

Nicola continues, ‘Although this formation of musicians, instruments and written arrangements were all brand new, things from the past always have a way of coming back around. And for me this is particularly true of my time at the Yehudi Menuhin School. As we began our first play through for a small invited audience, in order to test out the eclectic mix of pieces for real, not just imagined, people, I realised quite how much relevance this programme had to that time in my life. All the virtuosic pieces, I learnt for the first time in my early teens at the school studying with professor Natasha Boyarsky. I learnt not only the fundamentals of technical playing, but how to deepen the fire, passion and sonority of my playing. But although a fun, fulfilling yet challenging time was had in tackling all those notes and basking in all that charm, the slow, luscious, emotional writing has had my heart from my first days learning the violin. It’s therefore unsurprising that there’s no shortage on this album.’

Nicola Benedetti is a GRAMMY Award winner (Best Classical Instrumental Solo, 2020), two-time winner of Best Female Artist at the Classical BRIT Awards, and in 2021 was recognised as BBC Music Magazine’s ‘Personality of the Year’ for her online support of young musicians during the pandemic. A long-time leader in music education, she established the Benedetti Foundation in 2019, delivering transformative experiences through mass music events. She was made an MBE in 2013, received the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017, and was appointed a CBE two years later. Since October 2022, she has been the Festival Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, becoming the first woman – and first Scot – to ever hold the position.

Nicola Benedetti, violin
Plínio Fernandes, guitar (tracks 1-4, 9-11)
Thomas Carroll, cello (tracks 1-5, 9-11)
Samuele Telari, accordion (tracks 1-5, 9-11)
Brìghde Chaimbeul, Scottish small pipes (tracks 6-8)
Yume Fujise, violin (track 10)

Nicola Benedetti
Hilary Finch wrote in The Times, “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.” This sums up Nicola’s ability to communicate and enthrall audiences with dynamic and energy-filled performances. And whilst she is a highly sought performer on the world platform, Nicola is also fiercely dedicated to music education. Through her work with such organisations as Sistema Scotland, she has helped to demonstrate the power that music can have in transforming the lives of young people.

Highlights of Nicola’s 2011/12 season include her debut with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest and with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Zurich Chamber, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Hallé orchestras. She will also perform Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Leonard Elschenbroich and the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach and has recently participated in a highly publicized New York Philharmonic performance in Central Park with Alan Gilbert conducting. Later in the season, Nicola will also perform a series of four recitals at LSO St. Luke’s in London for the BBC, as well as give recitals at the Wigmore Hall, in Baden Baden and in Wiesbaden. She will make her Concertgebouw debut with the Mantova Chamber Orchestra and will perform multiple times with the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and on a multi-city tour of the UK with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. She also embarks on a tour of South America that takes her to major concert halls in cities such as Buenos Aires (Teatro Colon), Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and Lima.

In recent seasons, Nicola has previously performed multiple times with the Philharmonia, Royal Scottish National, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras as well as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony orchestras. She has also worked with the Deutsche Symphony Orchestra in Berlin, Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Bournemouth Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier, Russian National Orchestra, Het Brabants Orkest, KBS Symphony and Japan Philharmonic as well as the Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Toronto and Vancouver symphony orchestras and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. Nicola’s busy schedule has seen her work with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Jakub Hrusa, Louis Langree, Alan Gilbert, Stéphane Denève, Andrew Litton, Sir Neville Marriner, Kristjan Jarvi, Paavo Jarvi, Mikhail Pletnev, Donald Runnicles, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Mario Venzago, Diego Matheuz, Pinchas Zukerman and Jaap van Zweden.

Nicola made her debut at the Proms in 2010, and has performed at the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen and the Echternach Festival in Luxembourg and was a featured artist at the Istanbul Festival in 2011. She has given recitals in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Paris, Sacile, New York, Boston and Washington D.C. In July 2011, Nicola made her South American debut with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, Diego Matheuz conducting, and during her week-long visit, she taught numerous masterclasses with the revolutionary El Sistema program.

Nicola performs in chamber music concerts with her regular trio, both in the UK and further afield. Along with cellist Leonard Elschenbroich and pianist Alexei Grynyuk, she has performed at the Ravinia Festival, LSO St Luke’s, Istanbul Festival, Schloss Elmau, and West Cork Chamber Music Festival. Nicola has also played chamber music at the Verbier Festival, the Moritzburg Festival, the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona with Jean Yves Thibaudet, at Lockenhaus and at Prussia Cove.

Throughout her career, Nicola’s desire to perform a broad variety of repertoire and reach a wide audience has shown her to be one of Britain’s most innovative and creative young violinists. Nicola’s choice of the Szymanowski Violin Concerto for the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004 was just the beginning of her focus on less-often programmed repertoire. She has recorded newly commissioned works by John Tavener and James Macmillan, worked on jazz-influenced repertoire with Wynton Marsalis and others, and explored authentic baroque performance, her studies of which have culminated in the release of her first recording on the Decca Classics label in 2011/2012; a disc of baroque violin masterpieces by Vivaldi, Tartini and Veracini entitled ‘Italia’.

Nicola is also widely respected for her commitment to working with young people. Since 2005, she has visited schools throughout the United Kingdom in conjunction with the CLIC Sargent Practice-a-thon, in which she encourages pupils of all ages to pick up their instruments and enjoy classical music. In 2010, she became involved in El Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise project, a music initiative partnered with Venezuela’s El Sistema (Fundación Musical Simón Bolívar). As a Board Member and the program’s official musical “Big Sister”, Nicola makes regular visits to Raploch, Scotland to conduct master classes and work closely with the children.

Winner of the Classical BRIT Award for Young British Classic Performer in 2008, Nicola has previously released five CDs with Universal/Deutsche Grammophon, the most recent featuring Tchaikovsky and Bruch concerti with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and Jakub Hrusa. Nicola’s debut album included Szymanowski, Saint-Saëns, Massenet and Brahms with the London Symphony Orchestra, followed by a second release featuring works by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert and Macmillan with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Nicola’s third album was comprised of newly commissioned works by Tavener and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the fourth featured works by Sarasate, Fauré, Rachmaninov, Pärt and Ravel.

Born in Scotland of Italian heritage, Nicola began violin lessons at the age of five. In 1997, she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Natasha Boyarskaya. After leaving the Yehudi Menuhin School, 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.

This album contains no booklet.