Music teaching is vital to a child’s education

Nicola Benedetti: ‘Music teaching is vital to a child’s education’

By Maddy Shaw Roberts

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The leading violinist on the state of music education in schools, the essential role of music in our day-to-day lives, and why we need to do more to celebrate our country’s teachers.

Nicola Benedetti has spoken passionately about the need for better music education in schools, saying “music teaching is vital to a child’s education”. 

In a speech held at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in London, the violin virtuoso drew on her time spent campaigning for better music provision in some of England and Scotland’s most underprivileged schools.

“Any one moment can flick a switch and turn a tide. Each moment with someone young can be that moment for them – when they choose hope over apathy or choose to persevere over giving up,” she says, speaking to members of the Royal Philharmonic Society and the wider classical music industry.

“Music fires the imagination in young minds. On many an occasion, I have learned more about the pieces I’m playing from critiques of a four-year-old listening to me playing, than I have from years of studying and learning professionally,” Benedetti says, with a smile.

Read more: ‘With Nicky’ – Nicola Benedetti’s exclusive practice tips >

Nicola Benedetti is campaigning for better music education across the UK. Picture: PA

The Scottish-born violinist, who has tirelessly campaigned for better music education across the country, has previously said that while her first love is music, her second is educating people through the art of music.

Since the age of 15, Benedetti has worked with schools and music organisations around the world, engaging with local music-making and spending countless hours working alongside teachers who have dedicated their lives to music.

“I saw a huge number of inspiring teachers engaging their students with no sacrifice on quality,” she recalls.

“I saw great teaching and playing, regardless of level. The more I looked, the more excellence, ingenuity, creativity, dedication, resilience and unbelievable steadfastness in both teacher and student I encountered.”

Read more: ‘Music needs a more prominent place in the stringent education system’, says Benedetti >

Benedetti pauses. “But I also saw lacklustre music teachers and students, worn down by years of zero celebration of their work, continuous battles to hold onto the tiny resources they have, and feeling like they are pushing against a culture that only celebrates music sold like addictive candy.”

Nicola Benedetti is a leading violinist and music education ambassador. Picture: Andy Gotts

In January this year, Nicola and her team set up the Benedetti Foundation, a charitable organisation which will support students and teachers in music-making.

The foundation’s main focus will be the ‘Benedetti Sessions’ – a series of orchestra-based weekend workshops, designed to address the needs of young musicians and of teachers, and to enrich the lives of today’s young people through music.

“Music is a gift from the depth of one person’s soul to another. It is the art of all things we cannot see nor touch,” the virtuoso says.

“The teaching of music is important because, put simply, music is important.”

Venice floods: St Mark’s Basilica in Venice suffers ...

...  ‘significant damage’ with historic tides

Footage shows Venice flooded as the city struggles to cope with rising water

By Kyle Macdonald

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The historic church, which dates back to 1092, has been swamped with water following the city’s highest tide in 50 years.

St Mark’s Basilica, which has seen music performances from the likes of great Baroque composers Vivaldi, Monteverdi and Gabrieli, has been flooded following high tides which have impacted the entire city of Venice. 

Last night saw the highest tide in more than 50 years, peaking at 1.87 metres. Waters swamped the city’s famous canals, flooding squares, houses, shops and the 11th-century Basilica.

People worked through the night to clear water from the historic mosaics that adorn the floor of the building, situated in St Mark’s Square. According to church records, this is the sixth time the building has been flooded in its history.

The Mayor of the city, Luigi Brugnaro, tweeted: “Venice is on its knees. St Mark’s Basilica has suffered serious damage, as have the whole city and the islands.”

St. Mark's Basilica flooding. Picture: Getty

Brugnaro blamed the flooding on the effects of climate change and urged protection for the city from rising sea levels.

The floods have so far claimed the lives of two people on the nearby island of Pellestrina. Italy was hit by heavy rainfall on Tuesday, with more wet weather forecast this week.

The Mayor also pledged that the long-delayed MOSE project, designed to protect Venice and the Venetian Lagoon from tides of up to three meters, will be completed. It began in 2003, but has been continually set back by cost overruns, scandals and delays.

Over the centuries the Basilica has been one of the world’s most important places for Baroque music.

As a young man, composer Antonio Vivaldi's was believed to have occasionally played in the Orchestra of St Mark’s.

Baroque composers such as Monteverdi and Gabrieli wrote large-scale religious works for the vast, elaborate building.

A rare portrait of teenage Mozart is being auctioned in Paris

The rare portrait of a teenage Mozart will be sold at auction. Picture: Christie's

By Sian Hamer, ClassicFM London

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It is estimated the rare painting of the young classical composer could sell for up to £1 million.

A rare portrait of Mozart as a teenager is due to be sold at auction at the end of the month.

The artwork, attributed to Italian painter Giambettino Cignaroli, will be auctioned at Christie’s Paris on 27 November – and it is estimated the rare portrait will fetch between €800,000 (£688,000) and €1.2 million (£1 million).

Painted in January 1770, the portrait depicts a teenage Mozart sitting at his harpsichord in front of a score, wearing a white wig and a red frock.

The 13-year-old composer had been touring Italy at the time, and the portrait captures him following a successful organ concert he had given in Verona.

Mozart lived between 1756 and 1791. Picture: Getty

Many attempts have been made to decipher the score which sits in front of the composer in the artwork.

“Some musicologists argue that it is the work of the Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi,” Astrid Centner, director of the old paintings department at Christie’s, told Agence France-Presse.

“Others say that it is a score by Mozart himself that has been lost.”

Read more: British composer completes Mozart’s 230-year-old unfinished work, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik >

Listen to Debbie Wiseman's ‘Ein Bisschen Fehlt’ – a response to Mozart’s missing ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ movement

Centner explains that what makes the artwork so extraordinary are the circumstances around the ordering of the portrait, which can be actually retraced.

In a letter from Mozart's father, he describes how Pietro Lugiati, a general tax collector in Venice, decided to commission the portrait.

“This happens very little in the world of art…” Centner adds. “Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, speaks about it in a letter to his wife and tells the story of January 6-7 1770.

“At the bottom of the portrait is a sentence in Latin describing Mozart, which reads: ‘He surpassed any praise in the musical art’.”

Read more: Mozart’s London townhouse has been listed for £7.5 million – take a look inside >

Throughout his lifetime, the composer had very few portraits painted – but one of the most famous was a drawing of him at seven years old, in front of a piano with his family. The artwork is currently on display at the Musée Carnavalet.

Vasily Petrenko: ‘To understand classical music you need no language

 – it’s a direct link from heart to heart’

Conductor Vasily Petrenko: “To understand classical music you need no language – it’s a direct link from heart to heart”. Picture: Sveta Tarvola / IMG Artists

By Rosie Pentreath, ClassicFM London

The Russian maestro speaks to Classic FM about becoming music director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the orchestra’s exciting new partnership with the Royal Albert Hall.

We meet Vasily Patrenko on a rainy London day, and seek shelter inside the curved walls of the Royal Albert Hall.

As well as the recent announcement of his appointment as Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) for the 2021/22 season onwards – Director Designate before that, from 2020 – Petrenko is also here to talk about the exciting new partnership between the RPO and the Royal Albert Hall, which is being announced next week. 

"I loved the Royal Albert Hall from the very first time I came here, maybe fifteen years ago,” Petrenko says, speaking exclusively to Classic FM. “For me, it’s always a pleasure to be here, especially for the right repertoire. This hall is designed and built as a grand venue, so if you perform here you have to perform something big – something for many participants – and then it sounds very natural here. 

“The partnership with the Hall will allow us to perform big, symphonic repertoire, like Mahler, for instance. I also have plans to bring some big English oratorios to the Hall.” 

The Hall’s place in London’s classical music scene might centre largely around The Proms, but for Petrenko it is even better viewed as a year-round destination for music lovers. 

“It’s important for Londoners to have an all-year-round season here, with a very serious classical music approach.  “It is a venue for diverse music and events, but I think classical music should have more of a place in the main season. And that’s what we’re working towards and hoping for through the partnership.”

The RPO’s announcement of its partnership with the Royal Albert Hall is an exciting development for both the orchestra, which will continue to also be based at Cadogan Hall where it has been since 2004, and the venue, which hosts a range of classical and non-classical music events throughout the year.

And new research by the RPO suggests there is no better springboard for British orchestral music than the Royal Albert Hall. A poll they conducted saw the Royal Albert Hall top the list of UK concert venues with 58 per cent of respondents saying that it showcases the best of what Britain does. It was followed by Glastonbury (53 per cent) and Wembley Stadium (27 per cent).

We challenged three of our presenters to perform at the Royal Albert Hall

“It’s a great honour and a great pleasure to come to London and work with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra has a great history and a great present, and, I hope, an even better future,” Petrenko tells Classic FM.

The collaboration with the Royal Albert Hall will start with performances of Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 2, 3 and 8, and there are a lot of plans for tours and concerts in London, and beyond.

“It’s the next part of the orchestra’s journey so there’s also plenty of hard work to come,” Petrenko laughs.

The Mahler selections Petrenko has planned with the RPO have been carefully chosen for the sheer size of forces required, both orchestral and choral, which suit the Albert Hall’s huge space. These will accompany the full Mahler Symphony Cycle Petrenko will conduct with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra before he says farewell.

What’s so special about Mahler’s symphonies?

Petrenko made his debut with the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall in March 2016, with a powerful rendition of Mahler’s Symphony No.2, ‘Resurrection’.

Speaking about his choices of Mahler this time around, Petrenko says: “They’re all great symphonies and they’re all explorations of the human spirit. This was the first time the symphonic genre became truly existential; a search of what the life of the human in the modern world means.

“Mahler raised existential questions such as: why is the world is so beautiful, but humans suffer so much? And those questions are eternal; they exist very much now as they did then.”

For Petrenko, Mahler’s symphonies raise spiritual questions about society versus the individual. And perhaps no musical group is as representative of the coming together of society than the symphony orchestra.

“I prefer always to work together for progress and I’m always trying to see the world as one working together for the future,” the conductor explains.

“An orchestra is a great example of this working together – of how many people of different nationalities and playing different instruments are all working together to create something amazing. I really believe in such things more than in the division and in the small segments.”

The RPO’s appointment with the Albert Hall, which seats over 5,000 people, will especially help to bring the wonderful force of a symphony orchestra to a wider audience.

“The most important thing is the sense of discovery and the sense of inclusivity ­– in terms of the public who will be welcomed to the concerts. There is also the importance of diversity and making classical music accessible to anyone.

“To understand classical music you need no language – it’s a direct link from heart to heart,” is how Petrenko puts it, rather poignantly.

“Classical music is a huge part of my life and has always been, and to live without it would make my life empty.”