Violinist Nicola Benedetti Wins 2020 Grammy Award

January 26, 2020, 6:26 PM · Congratulations to violinist Nicola Benedetti, who on Sunday won a Grammy for "Best Classical Instrumental Solo" for her performance with conductor Cristian Macelaru and the Philadelphia Orchestra in their recording of Wynton Marsalis' Violin Concerto and "Fiddle Dance Suite". Benedetti also performed on Sunday at the 62nd GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony; below a recording of her live performance of "Fiddle Dance Suite" by Wynton Marsalis.

The "Violin Concerto" was a long-term collaboration between Benedetti and Marsalis, who met in 2004 at the Academy of Achievement annual international summit and have been friends ever since.

Benedetti started "gently presenting the idea" of a violin concerto during their phone conversations, starting in about 2011, and the concerto soon became a reality. It was co-commissioned by Ravinia, the LA Phil, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and the London Symphony Orchestra, who premiered the work with Benedetti in 2015. Here is our review from the 2016 Los Angeles premiere of the work, as well as our interview with Benedetti about its genesis.

Other 2020 Grammy Award winners in the classical categories include:

Jennifer Higdon, who won "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" for her Harp Concerto from the album American Rapture
The Attacca Quartet, who won "Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance" for their album Orange
Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who won "Best Orchestral Performance" on the album Norman: Sustain
The sound engineers for the Kronos Quartet, who won Best Engineered Classical Album for Riley: Sun Rings

Click here for a full list of 2020 Grammy Awards.

You might also like: