{"id":47163,"date":"2024-09-11T14:58:21","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T12:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/8405d436-d989-4bdf-84b2-1a7f9ee5bb2b"},"modified":"2024-09-11T16:07:16","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T14:07:16","slug":"nicola-benedetti-on-what-it-takes-to-win-bbc-young-musician-and-how-to-survive-afterwards","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/nicola-benedetti-on-what-it-takes-to-win-bbc-young-musician-and-how-to-survive-afterwards\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicola Benedetti on what it takes to win BBC Young Musician… and how to survive afterwards"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 11 September 2024 at 12:58 PM<\/p>

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The BBC Young Musician competition has produced its fair share of memorable moments in its 46-year history, plus some pretty sensational winners. You may well remember, for instance, oboist Nicholas Daniel in 1980, clarinettist Emma Johnson in \u201884 or pianist Freddy Kempf<\/a><\/strong> in \u201892. None, though, made quite the same impact that Nicola Benedetti<\/a><\/strong> did in winning the 2004 final.\u00a0<\/p>

BBC Young Musician 2024 broadcast dates announced<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
That winning feeling… a flood of offers<\/h2>
When the 16-year-old violinist from Ayrshire wowed judges and live TV audience alike with an astonishingly accomplished performance of Szymanowski\u2019s Violin Concerto No. 1, the musical world really sat up and took notice. <\/p>
The subsequent flood of offers of concert appearances, public engagements, newspaper interviews and product endorsements was predictable enough \u2013 fairly standard for the winner of such a high profile competition in fact. Rather less predictable, however, was the million-pound recording contract from Deutsche Grammophon that soon followed. The sum, for a six-disc deal, was simply unprecedented.<\/p>
<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nicola Benedetti performs Bruch’s Violin Concerto at the Last Night of the Proms 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/how-win-bbc-young-musician\">How to win BBC Young Musician<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">BBC Young Musician… How to approach the big night<\/h2><p>Unsurprisingly, Benedetti still has a strong affection for Young Musician. As someone who has \u2018been there, done that\u2019, Benedetti is as good a person as anyone to advise this year\u2019s finalists on how they should approach the big night. When I ask her just that, though, she hesitates. <\/p><p>\u2018I feel very odd giving advice to musicians on how to cope…\u2019 she admits. \u2018For me, the main priority, and the reason why I managed to stay calm throughout the day, was to have absolutely no expectations of the competition side of it. I had this opportunity to stand up in a beautiful hall with a lovely audience, to work with a great orchestra and conductor and to perform a concerto that was being televised. It is pressure, yes, it is nerve-wracking, yes, but it is also a great opportunity, and anyone who gets it should grasp it with both hands.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/winners-of-bbc-young-musician-from-history\">Winners of BBC Young Musician: all the winners and runners-up from the history of the competition<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Dealing with stress and anxiety<\/h2><p>Benedetti admits that such an answer may sound all-too-easy coming from someone who\u2019s actually won the thing, but her \u2018be grateful for the chance\u2019 advice does seem genuine, especially as it comes from someone whose own path to the final was noticeably fraught. <\/p><p>\u2018After both my first and second rounds I came off the stage nearly in tears thinking \u201cI\u2019m not going to get through\u201d,\u2019 she recalls. \u2018That really is the truth. After the first round I was adamant that I hadn\u2019t played well enough. It happens sometimes.\u2019 <\/p><p>And worse was to come in the semi-final when, mid-performance, her violin\u2019s tailpiece broke, sending the strings flying \u2013 the sort of disaster, in short, that could have reduced some players to as much of a wreck as the instrument itself had become. Benedetti, after dashing off stage for some rapid instrument repair work, soon made her way back to resume business, composure seemingly still intact.<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/bbc-young-musician-of-the-year-memorable-moments-from-its-inception-in-1978\">BBC Young Musician: the most memorable moments since its inception in 1978<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">BBC Young Musician… What’s the atmosphere like?<\/h2><p>No wonder, then, that she was thankful for the chance to appear as a finalist in Edinburgh\u2019s Usher Hall. But what is appearing in the final really like? Is it cut-throat? <\/p><p>\u2018Actually, there seems to be this atmosphere of just a general enjoyment of music,\u2019 she replies. \u2018Perhaps it\u2019s a British thing, or perhaps it\u2019s because there are different instruments in the final \u2013 it\u2019s not all <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/20-greatest-violinists-ever\">violinists<\/a><\/strong> playing things as fast as they possibly can. <\/p><p>‘In 2004, there was lots of talk about (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/20-greatest-pianists-all-time\">pianist<\/a><\/strong>) <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/recordings\/five-recordings-benjamin-grosvenor\">Benjamin Grosvenor<\/a><\/strong>. He was, what, ten or eleven, and playing like a 20 year-old! I\u2019d also heard that the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/six-best-flautists\">flautist<\/a><\/strong> was wonderful, plus lots of fine things about the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/famous-trumpet-players\">trumpeter<\/a><\/strong> and the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/who-are-the-best-percussionists-today\">percussionist<\/a><\/strong>. On the day, though, I didn\u2019t really want to focus on what they were doing.\u2019<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Young Musician final 2004 Ben Grosvenor plays Ravel\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HRs_3XKWdDw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Benjamin Grosvenor performs in the final of BBC Young Musician 2004 at the age of 11<\/figcaption><\/figure><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/six-best-bbc-young-musician-performances\">6 of the best BBC Young Musician performances<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">‘Classical babe’? Marketing the winner…<\/h2><p>Few would admit it, but the A & R people must have been praying for either Benedetti or Grosvenor to win. Glamorous female violinist or brilliant child prodigy \u2013 both are highly sellable. No surprise, then, that even as Benedetti was collecting the trophy, the pre-emptive gossip began, accompanied by speculation of her potential worth to the record companies. <\/p><p>Would she choose to sell out and be playing the glamour card? Would it be just pop from now on? \u2018Oh Gawd. \u201cClassical Babe\u201d!\u2019 groans Benedetti when I ask if she was aware of all the talk. \u2018I was very aware of it, because I was being confronted with it every time I spoke to anybody! I could not understand why it was there \u2013 I had never said anything that was going to imply that I was going to start playing pop music tomorrow. Whether it\u2019s to do with image, I don\u2019t know, but interview after interview I had to say \u201cI am a classical violinist. I am going to do a recording of classical music\u2026\u201d.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/bbc-young-musician-runners-up-history\">The most successful BBC Young Musician runners up: what happens when you don’t win?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">BBC Young Musician… Handling the pressure of winning<\/h2><p>Proof of her intentions soon came when, following the signing to DG, her debut disc, featuring the Szymanowski concerto, showed not a trace of crossover. While this led to the \u2018classical babe\u2019 furore dying down, her profile as a musician continued to remain high nonetheless, and the diary was frighteningly full. <\/p><p>For someone who was also still developing as a player, her lifestyle sounds a lot to manage. \u2018I tried to do the studying, the lessons, the learning of the repertoire, the recording and the performing all at the same time,\u2019 she agrees. <\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/news\/nicola-benedetti-appointed-director-of-edinburgh-international-festival\">Nicola Benedetti appointed director of Edinburgh International Festival<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>\u2018It can be very hard to maintain a balance, and the further I progressed, the more I realised just how difficult it can be! Such as, you think you can learn, say, a couple of little sonatas in a month and be able to perform them to a certain standard, but do you don\u2019t take into account all the other things that will take up your time. You don\u2019t take into account getting ill, or\u00a0\u00a0just being too tired late in the evening to pick up your violin and practise. It can be tough.\u2019<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Benedetti’s advice for this year’s winner…<\/h2><p>So, would she advise this year\u2019s winner to do differently? \u2018For somebody winning the competition, I think I\u2019d have to say \u201cListen to yourself, as much as you possibly can\u201d. Before you win the competition, try to think what you\u2019d be doing anyway \u2013 what is important for you, not what other people tell you is important for you. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve tried hard to do, but it\u2019s really difficult.\u2019<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/when-did-van-cliburn-win-the-tchaikovsky-competition\">When did Van Cliburn win the Tchaikovsky Competition?<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>But back to that day in May 2004\u2026 \u2018Winning the Young Musician of The Year was one of the best days of my life,’ says Benedetti. ‘I know people won\u2019t believe me but, genuinely, it\u2019s not because I won the competition. That performance of the Szymanowski was one of my best to date. All the things that make a performance special were there: the tiny little nuances, the fact that I felt in control of the atmosphere, was able to be creative, didn\u2019t feel the pressure, was incredibly well prepared. Because of all that, I went home knowing that I\u2019d done a performance to be proud of.\u2019<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Wednesday, 11 September 2024 at 12:58 PM The BBC Young Musician competition has produced its fair share of memorable moments in its 46-year history, plus some pretty sensational winners. You may well remember, for instance, oboist Nicholas Daniel in 1980, clarinettist Emma Johnson in \u201884 or pianist Freddy Kempf in \u201892. 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You may well remember, for instance, oboist Nicholas Daniel in 1980, clarinettist Emma Johnson in \u201884 or pianist Freddy Kempf in \u201892. None, though,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/47163"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}