{"id":423760,"date":"2025-09-14T13:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T13:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/423760\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T13:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T13:18:10","slug":"review-the-benedetti-sessions-at-glasgow-royal-concert-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/423760\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Benedetti Sessions at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n New to this one were the smallest children in the Introductory section, who had renamed themselves The A Team by the time their parents arrived at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall<\/a> to hear what they\u2019d learned.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe wanted to give an experience for young people who have only just picked up an instrument,\u201d Benedetti explained. That included singing and body percussion, before they joined with the violinist and her teaching colleagues in playing a new piece, The Hidden Cave, composed for the occasion by Joelle Broad, and then combined with the older players in a special arrangement by Paul Campbell of the Shostakovich.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more by Keith Bruce:<\/strong>
‘Thrillingly virtuosic’ – Scottish classical festival hits all the right notes<\/strong><\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Why I was disappointed in the closing concert of the International Festival<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A complex rhythmic richness as musicians return to Scots ‘home’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n Saturday afternoon\u2019s performance also included some virtuoso music to inspire the players, when Benedetti and one of her own teachers, Andrea Gajic, played Pablo Saraste\u2019s Navarra for two violins with a string orchestra made up of the tutors.\n<\/p>\n

\n For ten-year-old Lucca Monaghan, from Our Lady\u2019s Primary in Stirling<\/a>\u2019s Raploch, who has been playing the cello since he was five, it was a return visit. \u201cYou get to learn a new piece and make new friends,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just playing your instrument, it\u2019s the other musical activities too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Josie Carlow from Kinross High School was one of the senior members of the cello section and a veteran of no fewer than six Benedetti Sessions, a singular record.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to learn how it works to play in a big group,\u201d she said. That\u2019s the experience she\u2019ll take back to her school orchestra, she said. \u201cThe Shostakovich Waltz has good bits for the cello. I\u2019ve been able to hook up with friends I\u2019ve met at other sessions, but mostly it\u2019s new people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: Colin Mearns\/The Herald)\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: Colin Mearns\/The Herald)\n<\/p>\n

\n With Donnie Deacon conducting the huge string orchestra, the Waltz, Polka and Foxtrot from the Jazz Suite fulfilled Benedetti\u2019s aim that each session introduces the youngsters to one great work that is part of the classical music canon.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe want to make the music challenging and satisfying for each stage of their learning,\u201d Benedetti said. \u201cSo there is new repertoire and a different experience each time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n That applies to the director of the Benedetti Foundation herself as well, who admits that she doesn\u2019t give a great deal of thought to how she makes time for the Sessions alongside her other commitments.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf I thought about it too much I would do much less,\u201d she said. \u201cIt would seem unrealistic. But I think I am getting better at sourcing the right people to help me, and trusting them to do what they do best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New to this one were the smallest children in the Introductory section, who had renamed themselves The A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-423760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115202851488913870","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}