Nicola and friends perform Ernest Bloch’s ‘Prayer’ in a special recording at Kemps House, the home of British luxury sofa manufacturer Maker&Son and Founder Alex Willcock.

“Music can uplift through joy and it can console through reflection. Sometimes you are looking for something to make you feel more of what you are feeling. And through the process is a kind of cleansing, or a rebirth of your most uplifted self. I know I understand that experience myself and I am sure most people do” Nicola Benedetti reflected, “...sometimes you go deeper to come up.”

We want simply to share the internal experience that we have with music in the most visceral possible way that we can, through a camera and a screen and to do that in a way that brings people deep inside that experience. It's not easy, but we both have the same commitment to wanting to do that, for as many people as possible.

So to take a piece of music like this, that we obviously feel so much of that raw emotion for and to be trying to capture, not so much the practicalities of playing it, or even the slightly more superficial layer of performance, but allowing people inside of the mind and heart of what it is that we are experiencing.

A new arrangement of Prayer by Ernest Bloch

Originally scored for cello and piano, this new arrangement for violin and string quartet was commissioned by Alex Willcock, classical music the founder of handmade sofa company Maker&Son, after discovering the piece earlier this year and being deeply affected by its melancholy beauty. “There is an element of this particular piece that enables you to connect with a zeitgeist, to connect with the ‘now’.

Rehearsal excerpt of Szymanowski’s Violin Concerti No. 2, with the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Karina Canellakis.

Welcome to our final concert, the culmination, of the first part of the Benedetti Foundation's Global Violin Sessions - a journey of discovery, globalism and cultural exchange.

What happens if you take one tune and send it around the world? We’re about to find out.

Our tune, written by the trumpeter, composer and educator, Wynton Marsalis, has been on the first part of its journey - passed around the world, from one virtuoso violinist to another. Each violinist along with colleagues in their country has made it their own. They have changed rhythms, twisted notes, rewritten corners, added instrumentation and colours and effects – and along the way, they taught us to understand, to explore and to play the music of their traditions.

This first stop has seen us visit the United States of America, Hungary, Finland and Serbia. We have gained insight into the musical worlds of each tradition, told by the violin and led by a stellar line up of great musicians:

USA: Mark and Maggie O'Connor and Tessa Lark

Hungary: Geza Hosszu-Legocky and the 5 DeViLs and Roby Lakatos & his band

Finland: Pekka Kuusisto

Serbia: Nemanja Raduolvic

We hope you enjoy the performance.

One of the most sought-after violinists of her generation, Nicola Benedetti is a truly captivating performer. But she has also long been committed to making music accessible through her involvement in youth music organisations, including Big Sister (Sistema Scotland).

Nicola in conversation with Toks Dada, our Head of Classical Music.

"I see the whole thing in multicolour" 🌈

Nicola joins the Philharmonia Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, conducted by Pekka Kuusisto - Musician, live from Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall.