Nicola Benedetti

Born (July 1987) in West Kilbride in Ayrshire, United Kingdom, she started to learn the violin at the age of four. By the age of nine, she had already passed the eight grades of musical examinations, and in September 1997 began to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School for young musicians in rural Surrey. At the end of her first year, she played solo in the school's annual concert at Wigmore Hall, and performed in London and Paris as soloist in Bach's Concerto in D minor for two violins and orchestra.