Nicola: I’m second fiddle to sis when playing pop music
SHE is a renowned violin virtuoso and one of the world’s most influential classical artists.
But Scots star Nicola Benedetti has admitted she lacks the skills to play pop music.
Her older sister, Stephanie, plays violin with electro-pop band Clean Bandit – and her talent leaves her younger sibling in awe.
Nicola, 33, said: ‘The fun pop stuff is not anything I have any experience in doing – and if I do try to play the things that Steph plays, not only do I feel a bit selfconscious, I actually feel that I sound really awful.
‘It’s a real specific way of playing that has got be really exactly in time, whereas classical music is quite free time-wise.
‘To play those songs you’ve got to be so metronomic. The times that I’ve tried to copy what she’s doing, I’ve always felt really like, I don’t know how to do this.’
The Ayrshire-born sisters have both enjoyed huge musical success. While Nicola has won Classical Brit and Grammy awards, Stephanie and Clean Bandit have topped the charts with hits such as Rather Be, Symphony and Rockabye. Nicola said: ‘When I say things like, “I’ve got to play such and such a concerto in half an hour”, Steph will say, “I can’t imagine anything worse”. She’ll just say, “You couldn’t pay me enough to do what you are about to do”.’
Stephanie, 37, who recently gave birth to a daughter, Sienna, was the first of the siblings to have a passion for the violin – and because she was the older sister, ‘Nicola wanted to copy me’, she said in an online interview, adding: ‘Apparently I was four and I saw it, heard it and basically begged Mum. I begged her for four years.’
She went on: ‘[Nicola] is the most supportive incredible sister and she has got the biggest heart.
‘Every time she gets on that stage I well up. There’s never been a day where I haven’t been proud of her.’
Nicola said: ‘I’ve never had anything but support from Steph... any conception people might have about a rivalry or jealousy, never from her.’