Page 104 - Virtual Benedetti Sessions Coverage Book

1 June 2020
FIRST NIGHT | CONCERT
Joyful celebration of Benedetti’s

online lessons in a class of its own

Simon Thompson
Monday June 01 2020, 12.01am, The Times

Nicola Benedetti taught students of all abilities
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The Virtual Benedetti Sessions
YouTube
★★★★★

For months I’ve been telling myself that the first live music I get to experience after this
pandemic is over will automatically get five stars, just for being on! In-the-flesh concerts still

feel like a way off, but it’s already time to crack out those five stars for the uplifting spirit that

lies behind this beacon of hope.

Nicola Benedetti, the superstar violinist, is as passionate about education as she is about playing,

and for years she has been running schemes to bring music closer to people of all ages and

abilities. Why should a mere pandemic get in the way? For the past three weeks she and her

team of teachers have been running the Virtual Benedetti Sessions, an online music training
programme with a gloriously open come-one-come-all approach. Anyone could sign up, from

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