I refuse to hide violin scars, says Benedetti
NICOLA BENEDETTI, the violinist, has told how she refuses to cover the scars on her neck with make-up, because she is too proud of the hard work that caused them.
Benedetti, who plays a 301-year-old Stradivarius, said that the dark skin on her left clavicle and below her jawline were the result of countless hours of music practice built up over years.
“They don’t hurt, they’re just numb,” she told Event magazine. “I’ve never known how I look without them as they developed at such a young age.
“But I always request for them not to be covered by make-up. Photographers frequently want me to do that, and I ask for them to be left alone. I guess that says I’m proud and comfortable with them.”
In an interview in the runup to the BBC Young Musicians Proms on July 15, she also discussed other perils of her profession, disclosing that she has a restraining order against an obsessed fan.
Asked about the need to “dumb down” classical music for new audiences, she said: “Let’s change the concert halls, put a pop beat under the music, don’t have a silent atmosphere, get everyone to pull out their mobile phones and let them film whatever they want. No! I am not a fan of that.
“Classical music is bloody difficult to learn and play and it is long form, so the audience has to concentrate to listen to it. I am not an apologist for any of those things.”
In 2016, Benedetti became the youngest recipient of the Queen’s Medal for Music. She said: “The Queen said that having just watched children play, it had occurred to her this was one of the few times their hands couldn’t be on anything else – anything else digital – nor could their minds!”