When she was young and growing up in Ayrshire, Nicola Benedetti used to eagerly watch two classical music programmes on television – the Young Musician of the Year and the London Proms.

She won the first event in 2004 at the age of 16, and is now about to fulfil another ambition by making her Proms debut on Tuesday night.

The 22-year-old violinist said it was an honour to play at one of the world’s most famous music festivals, even though, when she spoke to The Herald, she was battling a bad dose of flu that had left her so weak she could not pick up her violin.

“I have been lucky to have performed at the Albert Hall before, but to be asked to perform at the Proms is a huge honour,” she said.

“It is such a special place and it is still one of the best music festivals.”

She is performing one of the best-loved pieces of British music, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra led by the Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles, in his first appearance in the Proms as a chief conductor.

It is an occasion the musician, who is now based in London, has wished to be part of since she first picked up a violin at the age of four.

“It is such a special piece of music, The Lark Ascending, especially to the Proms, and it is coming at a good time for me,” she said.

“I always used to watch the Proms when I was young, as

well as the Young Musician of the Year – they were really the only two televised concerts I was aware of. Seeing classical

music on television is huge for children – you can listen to music but seeing it is such a big thing, too.”

Benedetti, from West Kilbride, recently said that performing sometimes more than 100 concerts a year had left her “unbelievably tired”.

She said last night that she needed time off to recover from a gruelling schedule. Yesterday she said she would be taking the summer off to have a holiday and spend time with her family in Scotland and study.

“I have been non-stop since September, and my strategy is to use the summer as my holiday and see my family,” she said.

She said the Albert Hall stage, and sound, was a little different from other venues.

“The acoustic is really quite ‘dry’ for such a big hall, and that is quite a shock to some musicians,” she said.

“And because it is lit up you can see the whole hall, the whole audience, which you don’t if the auditorium is not lit. It is a very complex hall, it sounds so different whether people are sitting or standing.”

Read our review of Nicola’s Proms debut in The Herald next week.