EAR FOR STRINGS BUT NO EYE FOR SHOPPING

CUIDE RI CATHY – NICOLA BENEDETTI
Monday 12 July, 10pm, BBC ALBA

Acclaimed Scottish musician Nicola Benedetti meets Cathy MacDonald and reveals the moment she realised how important the violin was to her – when her mother questioned whether she wanted to continue playing the instrument.

In the latest programme of the Cuide Ri Cathy series on BBC ALBA, Cathy meets Nicola at Glasgow’s City Halls during rehearsals for her next performance before they sit down to discuss Nicola’s career so far and future plans, plus her life outside music.

Nicola has been playing the violin since the age of five, and quickly fell in love with the instrument. Although Nicola may not have realised how dedicated she was to the instrument when she first started playing, a moment from her childhood underlined the significance of the violin to her. She explains: “I do remember very clearly at seven or eight that I didn’t want to practise one evening – which was quite unusual for me as I was usually very keen to play – and I remember my Mum saying, ‘well you know, you don’t have to play the violin, you really don’t have to do it, but if you do want to do it, then you have to do some practise.’

“I burst into tears. I was so upset and insulted that someone had said, had suggested that maybe I don’t have to play the violin anymore. I think that was a real shock moment for me of how much personally I was choosing to play and it wasn’t just something that was kind of forced upon me.”

As a result of the high demand for Nicola to perform concerts around the world, her diary is filled with work years in advance. Looking to the future, Nicola’s aim is for this success to continue. She says: “All I really hope for is that I’m able to control my diary enough presuming that I’m still in the fortunate position of being asked to play all the time.

“Presuming I am, I hope that I have the strength and ability to control how much I’m doing to make sure that it’s never too much and I’m not making myself unhappy or not playing as well as I could do by taking on too many things, and that I continue to get better all the time.”

As well as practising and performing, Nicola is heavily involved in charity work as a patron of CLIC Sargent and promoting the work of Sistema Scotland, a charity that was set up in the Raploch area of Stirling to give children the opportunity for social change by learning to play an instrument and be in an orchestra. And as Nicola explains, it is an initiative that needs to be supported. She says: “Something like that, that could spread beyond Raploch, would be just incredible because it just does so much for children that people don’t realise until they see it happening.

“There’s no point in me being idealistic about it and saying everyone should just get an instrument and learn one. Most people can’t just get an instrument, get lessons and learn to play in a way that they’ll be able to enjoy it because they’re being taught well enough, regularly enough and they have the support they need. Most people are not in that situation and that’s sad – they could be if there was enough support. But what to most things boil down to - it needs money.”

With a demanding schedule to meet, Nicola’s spare time is precious and is spent relaxing with family and friends but as she tells Cathy, there is one pastime she tries to stay away from. Nicola says: “I hate shopping so much! The only person I can go shopping with is my Mum. She keeps me going and drags me round and helps me find the right things. Shopping for a dress, there’s a list of about 100 things that are dos and don’ts. I do have a very specific fashion idea – let’s just say 99% of dresses I do not like!”