Nicola Benedetti to play the World Premiere of James MacMillan's Violin Concerto
Nicola Benedetti will debut in Scotland the work written for her by Sir James MacMillan before touring it internationally.
Benedetti gets a new string to her bow in dedicated concerto
By Mike Wade
The Times of Scotland
August 4, 2022
Nicola Benedetti will play the world premiere of a violin concerto dedicated to her by Scotland’s leading composer.
Sir James MacMillan said he had established a creative relationship with Benedetti over years of collaboration that had helped to inspire the work.
His Violin Concerto No 2 will have its debut with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) at Perth Royal Concert Hall next month, with performances in Edinburgh and Glasgow on the following evenings.
MacMillan, 63, from Cumnock in Ayrshire, has acquired world renown for his work but remains close to his roots, founding in 2014 a classical music festival in the village where he lives. He wrote a short work for Benedetti and singers at the first Cumnock Tryst festival.
Benedetti, 35, was recently announced as the next director of the Edinburgh International Festival.
MacMillan, who lives in Cumnock, said his previous work with Nicola Benedetti had helped inspire his new concerto
MacMillan said: “I’ve worked with Nicola on her recording of the Mendelssohn concerto and on tour with her on the Mozart G major concerto, and have absorbed a lot from these experiences.
“I composed From Ayrshire for her some years ago, which is a short piece that can be performed with either piano or small orchestral accompaniment. All this has been important in the way I have built my relationship with Nicola, and in my approach for the new concerto.”
MacMillan, who lives in Cumnock, said his previous work with Nicola Benedetti had helped inspire his new concerto
Benedetti will tour the composition internationally, performing with the Dallas Symphony, St Louis Symphony and Swedish Chamber orchestras. The work was completed in 2021 and commissioned by the SCO, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Poland.
As well as the dedication to Benedetti, the piece is written as a tribute to Krzysztof Penderecki, a Polish composer who died in 2020.
MacMillan said: “It opens with three chords, and the notes which the soloist plays in these [pizzicato] outline a simple theme which is the core ingredient for much of the music.
“When the soloist eventually plays with the bow, the character of the material sets the mood for much of the free-flowing, yearning quality of the music throughout.”
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