Violinist Nicola Benedetti Confirms Marriage to Wynton Marsalis

July 28, 2025, 9:22 PM · Scottish violin superstar Nicola Benedetti confirmed her marriage to American jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis in an interview on Saturday with The Telegraph, a London-based daily newspaper.

Violinist Nicola Benedetti and jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

The Telegraph interview covered a range of subjects, including Benedetti's thoughts on being a new mother to their one-year-old daughter, being artistic director of the Edinburgh International Festival since 2022, her Benedetti Foundation that was founded in 2019, and thoughts about music education.

While their relationship has been the subject of rumors for several years, neither Benedetti nor Marsalis had officially confirmed it until now.

Before the arrival of their daughter in May 2024, Benedetti, 38, and Marsalis, 63, brought into the world several significant musical projects. One very notable one was Marsalis' 2015 Violin Concerto, which won a Grammy Award in 2020 for "Best Classical Instrumental Solo," based on a Benedetti's recording with conductor Cristian Macelaru and the Philadelphia Orchestra, which also included Marsalis' "Fiddle Dance Suite" - also written for Nicola.

The Telegraph article described how Benedetti initially met Marsalis when she was 17, when she traveled to New York for a concert, and that over the years they have performed together many times.

It also mentioned Benedetti's musical education efforts, saying that "few people in the arts have done more than she has to make classical music accessible," citing her Benedetti Foundation music education programs, which have reached some 100,000 people of all ages. "She thinks listening properly to classical music for 15 minutes a day is as important for a child as reading a book, and has complained loudly about cuts to music in schools since the subject became a victim of the then coalition government’s austerity policies in 2012," the article said.

In the article Nicola also said that "The future of classical music is definitely threatened by the changes to work ethic and mentality. You cannot cheat your way through learning a musical instrument: ChatGPT is not going to teach you the violin. It’s impossible to learn music on any level with AI. You cannot fake your way to becoming a musician. Yet I think young people have become used to a lack of basic discipline in their daily lives – and that really worries me."

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Replies

Paul Deck

July 29, 2025 at 02:59 AM · That's wonderful news and congratulations to the two of them.

"Listening properly to classical music for 15 minutes a day is as important for a child as reading a book." As much as I adore classical music and respect its cultural value, this statement is absurd. Reading is far more important.

Steve Jones

July 29, 2025 at 06:39 AM · Paul, the sentence starts "She thinks..". I wouldn't take anything written in the Telegraph as the literal truth, worthy of re-quoting.

Richard Pairaudeau

July 29, 2025 at 08:34 AM · Paul and Steve: I can't see anything wrong with Nicola Benedetti's claims. She is a fine violinist, a good spokesperson for the arts in education and a clear communicator. I wish them both much happiness. I agree that the Telegraph is to be avoided politically and I don't read it, but I'm sure that its inner sections - music, gardening, motoring inter alia - are perfectly sound.

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Violinist Nicola Benedetti Confirms Marriage to Wynton Marsalis

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