Nicola Benedetti: Great Success at the Philharmonie Berlin

On 28 June 2026, violinist Nicola Benedetti (currently also Director of the Edinburgh International Festival) appeared with conductor Jonathan Nott and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) at the Philharmonie Berlin. The programme featured Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29 ("Polish").

Volker Tarnow, Berliner Morgenpost, 29 June 2026, wrote:

"Conductor Jonathan Nott and violinist Nicola Benedetti, together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, brought the Philharmonie to its feet."

"Nicola Benedetti performed this exceptionally demanding work with equal measures of devotion and cool-headedness. “Devotion and coolness” are perhaps the most fitting words to describe her approach to Elgar’s luxuriant pathos: she surrendered herself to its emotional intensity, its impassioned outbursts, and its sugary sentiment—beneath which melancholy quietly resides—yet presented it all with a charming sense of understatement, something one rarely has the opportunity to experience."