Violinist Nicola Benedetti Announces Pregnancy

Amidst congratulations, the violinist said she will continue to direct the Edinburgh International Festival in 2024

The 36-year-old violin virtuoso recently told The Times that she was “positive and excited” about the news, and that "flexibility will be the aim of the game in the next little while, and plenty of support."

In a recent Instagram post, Benedetti also wrote," A little note of thanks for all your congratulations also, I deeply appreciate it."

In 2022, Benedetti became both the first Scottish and first female Festival Director of the Edinburgh International Festival since its inception in 1947.

This year's festival will take place August 2-25, 2024, and despite having a spring due date, Benedetti said she will continue as Director as planned.

In 2023, Benedetti became the youngest-ever recipient of the Edinburgh Award, which celebrates an outstanding contribution to the city, in recognition of her service to the festival.

Born in Scotland and of Italian heritage, Nicola Benedetti began violin lessons at age four and attended the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Lord Menuhin and Natasha Boyarskaya.

Since then, and especially after winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2004 at age 16, she has toured internationally with many of the world’s top orchestras and artists. In 2017, she was the youngest-ever recipient of the Queen’s Medal for Music and has received nine honorary degrees.

In 2019, she established the Benedetti Foundation, which runs four programs that help to increase participation in and appreciation of music at all levels. These programs are run both live and virtually and have reached 50,000 participants in 103 different countries.

Of particular note are the foundation's Benedetti Sessions — three-day workshops for school-age string players that afford children the opportunity to work with Benedetti and other highly skilled pedagogues.