Cultural life, the radio four podcast, she reveals her formative influences and experiences, and how her passion for playing was there from the start. I knew very young there was no question i wanted to play the violin. There was no question that that was what i must do and had to do and wanted to do. Have you played here much, nicky . They chuckle nicola benedetti, welcome to this cultural life. Thank you so much for having me. Its an absolute pleasure. You were born and brought up in north ayrshire. What are your earliest musical memories at home . What memories do you have of music being played at home . The bee gees and abba. Later on, good dose of shania twain. That was all my dads taste. My mum definitely had a kenny g record. Um. She laughs saxophone . Theyll kill me for saying all of this quite like this, but its the truth both of your parents were born in italy, werent they . Yes. Was it an italian household culturally growing up . Its a good question. I would say both parents
But its the truth both of your parents were born in italy, werent they . Yes. Was it an italian household culturally growing up . Its a good question. I would say both parents assimilated very concretely and quite deliberately with scottishness and scottish culture, but they also came over very young. My mum was three years old. An italian speaking three year old with an italian mother and scottish father. Um. Came over to scotland and, er. Was sort of banned from speaking italian quite quickly. It was considered to be detrimental to her education and all sorts of things. We know better now. So my mum lost most of her italian, um. And it was a very scottish upbringing from that moment forward. And my dad, he came over when he was kind of ten or ii. Came over without his parents. Had a rough time, you know, adjusting to such a different culture. It was a good, healthy mix. But as far as mealtimes go and food, we were italian all the way. You mentioned you started playing the violin at t
friends immediately, and all kind. was with a very strict, difficult, um.er.teacher. i still, there was no question that that was what i must do, and had to, and wanted to do. and you went to the yehudi menuhin school in surrey between the ages of ten and 15. i think you played at his funeral, as well, didn t you? mm hm. what influence did he have on your playing and your musical life? well, yehudi menuhin was one of the.voices that i developed an understanding of after going to the school. i listened to a little bit of his playing just in the months before going, but, er.i didn t have enough cultural surroundings to understand what i was listening for and how to listen. that whole development of a culture of listening and how to hear into something is something that i really learnt with a.with a shock at.at.at menuhin school.
that that was what i must do, and had to, and wanted to do. and you went to the yehudi menuhin school in surrey between the ages of ten and 15. i think you played at his funeral, as well, didn t you? mm hm. what influence did he have on your playing and your musical life? well, yehudi menuhin was one of the.voices that i developed an understanding of after going to the school. i listened to a little bit of his playing just in the months before going, but, er.i didn t have enough cultural surroundings to understand what i was listening for and how to listen. that whole development of a culture of listening and how to hear into something is something that i really learnt with a.with a shock at.at.at menuhin school. because i was surrounded by an entire environment of people my age and older that had grown up with a different kind of listening experience. so being around others
and when you have grown to love certain pieces of music and then you literally hear that come to life with a group of 90 people, i mean, it s like a wave that has its own momentum and life to it, and all these voices talking to each other within such a mass group. and being part of that sound, helping to make that sound. yes. you must have known at that age that this was your life, this is what you wanted to do. oh, i knew very young that there was no question i wanted to play the violin. like, really very quickly. even going to music school, for me, which was a difficult thing to do. i was incredibly homesick and, er.sort of didn t make friends immediately, and all kind. was with a very strict, difficult, um.er.teacher. i still, there was no question that that was what i must do, and had to, and wanted to do. and you went to the yehudi menuhin school in surrey between the ages of ten and 15.