VIRTUOSO violinist Nicola Benedetti has revealed how she never stopped loving her cellist former boyfriend and still speaks to him every day.
Benedetti, 32, said she and her partner of 10 years, Leonard Elschenbroich, separated in 2017 after their relationship “evolved” but revealed the former couple remain “extremely close”.
She added that, while her older sister Stephanie was now married and other friends were settling down with partners and children, she has no regrets about her personal life.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland series Stark Talk, to be broadcast today, she said she was still not ready to settle down, and she would struggle to be in a relationship with a partner who couldn’t share discussions about music.
READ MORE: Benedetti's home fixture to raise music funding
She said: “Leonard and I literally communicate every day still, we’re extremely close. We were together 10 years and got together when I was 19 and I think people evolve and relationships evolve. It’s not that we stopped loving each other, it just turned into a different kind of love.
“I don’t have regrets in terms of my personal life.
“My sister’s married now and in a very kind of settled place in her life, but she’s 35, and a lot of my friends are in similar circumstances; they live in a house with a partner and have children or are going to have children, and obviously I’m not at that point yet.”
Benedetti has been guarded about her private life in the past and, when asked by presenter Edi Stark, “Is there anybody in your sights?” she only said: “Maybe, maybe not, I don’t know”.
But she added: “I might struggle with not being with somebody that really understood the full extent, or not even understood but was willing to and able to discuss things relating to music – it’s a topic that I’m interested in and would like to be able to share with a partner.
“But I see that whichever path you take you’re missing something, so yes I could wallow in not having such a settled life but much of that is choice too and I have big things I want to solidify and achieve, and they feed me energy.”
Benedetti, who was born in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, started playing violin at the age of four.
At eight she became the youngest ever leader of the National Children’s Orchestra and at 16 she won the BBC’s Young Musician of the Year. Awarded the CBE for services to music in the 2019 New Year Honours list, Benedetti travels around the world, performing on a 302-year-old Stradivarius violin loaned to her by arts patron Jonathan Moulds, worth £10 million.
Despite global success, however, she insists she could not afford to own the instrument.
She said: “It’s not mine and I don’t think it ever will be. I don’t see me ever affording it.”
Benedetti, who takes meticulous care of the instrument -- taking it to a violin restorer “at least every month”-- said Mr Moulds expected nothing in return for her using the Stradivarius.
She added: “Occasionally I have played at a surprise birthday party for his mother and I always invite him to every concert that I do that’s in London, but it’s an unbelievable gift and privilege that I’m eternally grateful for.”
READ MORE: Nicola Benedetti performs intimate gig in the Ayrshire house she grew up in
Stark Talk with Nicola Benedetti is on BBC Radio Scotland today at 1.30pm.
She said: “It’s not mine and I don’t think it ever will be. I don’t see me ever affording it.”
Benedetti, who takes meticulous care of the instrument -- taking it to a violin restorer “at least every month”-- said Mr Moulds expected nothing in return for her using the Stradivarius.
She added: “Occasionally I have played at a surprise birthday party for his mother and I always invite him to every concert that I do that’s in London, but it’s an unbelievable gift and privilege that I’m eternally grateful for.”
Stark Talk with Nicola Benedetti is on BBC Radio Scotland today at 1.30pm.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here