Nicola Benedetti and Cristian Măcelaru both win GRAMMY® Awards

Nicola Benedetti giving her acceptance speech at the 2020 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® (Photo credit: Getty Images)

For Immediate Release — Violinist Nicola Benedetti and conductor Cristian Măcelaru have each won GRAMMY® Awards for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Nicola Benedetti collected her award at the 2020 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® which took place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 26, 2020.

The GRAMMY® Award-winning Decca Classics album features premiere recordings of two works written especially for Benedetti by Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto in D and Fiddle Dance Suite for Solo Violin. Cristian Măcelaru conducted the performance of the Violin Concerto in D with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Before the Classical Category Awards were announced, Nicola Benedetti performed Bye Bye Breakdown by Wynton Marsalis from his Fiddle Dance Suite. Benedetti is the first classical solo violinist to perform at the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® in over 10 years. The performance was streamed live internationally via GRAMMY.com and is available to be viewed for 90 days following the event.

Nicola Benedetti commented, “I am so honored to have won a GRAMMY® for Best Classical Instrumental Solo and to have performed at the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony®. This recording project has been a deeply edifying experience for me and one I will always reflect on with immense gratitude. It has been a privilege to learn and perform these two inspired and unequivocal masterpieces, and to deepen my understanding of Wynton’s compositional language, cultural richness and philosophical insights. Long-form musical pieces are often described as a journey and this sure has been a rich and fascinating one.”

Cristian Măcelaru shared, “I feel privileged to receive a GRAMMY® and am humbled to have been part of this incredible project. This award recognizes the effort we all made to create this album with music by Wynton Marsalis. Together with Nicola Benedetti and The Philadelphia Orchestra, we had the opportunity to make a recording of a very important work that defines a musical style of the composer that is very interesting – a new voice of a purebred American composer – which brings with it jazz and contemporary music.”

The GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® was hosted by two-time GRAMMY® winner and nominee Imogen Heap. In addition to Nicola Benedetti, other show performers included jazz legend Chick Corea, folk music supergroup I’m With Her and Best New Artist nominee Yola.

In an article published by BBC News Scotland, Nicola’s father Gio Benedetti said, “It’s amazing – a wee girl from Scotland winning a GRAMMY® for classical music in the US. It’s really quite an achievement.”

The GRAMMY® win has been covered by international news outlets including Reuters, ITV News, The Herald, The National, Scottish Field, Classic FM, The Strad, Violinist.com, The Violin Channel, TIME, Los Angeles Times, Music Week, Limelight Magazine, U Discover Music, Daily Express, NGG, Classical WCRB and MS Magazine.

The win was additionally covered by Romanian news outlets, in recognition of Cristian Măcelaru being the second Romanian conductor, after Christian Badea became the first in 1985, to win a GRAMMY Award®. Features included Romania Insider, Radio Romania Cultural, Stripesurse, Banatul Azi, Hot News, Cancan and Antenna 1.

The Premiere Ceremony was followed by the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards® Telecast show, hosted by music legend Alicia Keys. Violinist Joshua Bell performed a song entitled “I Sing The Body Electric” from the film Fame in the closing act alongside Lang Lang, John Legend, Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello, Common, Misty Copeland and more. It was televised live on the CBS Television Network and drew an audience of over 18 million viewers.