Nicola Benedetti, Royal Albert Hall

Nicola Benedetti is a violinist of striking talents and rare popularity, who has balanced unprecedented commercial success with critical respect. This September, she will curate an afternoon at the Royal Albert Hall, joined by an ensemble of her favourite musicians.
The line-up includes one of the most famous of all classical works, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (1720). Familiar even to many with little experience in baroque music, this set of four themed concertos boasts a striking textural depth while providing an incredible showcase for a virtuosic lead violinist. From the joyful heights of ‘Spring’ to the incredible frenzy of ‘Winter’, it is impossible to deny the collection’s evergreen vitality.
The Vivaldi will be joined by Tchaikovsky’s string sextet Souvenir de Florence (1890), a late masterwork whose passion and emotional intensity matches the composer’s more famous orchestral music of the same period. Irresistibly melodic, its incredible Italian theme gives way to squally Russian folk tunes. Alongside these classics, Benedetti and her cellist partner Leonard Elschenbroich will perform a new piece written specially for them by Mark Anthony Turnage, one of Britain’s most prolific contemporary composers. As a portrait of Benedetti’s range and potency, this concert promises to be superlative.