Nicola Benedetti receives MBE at Buckingham Palace
21 May 2013, 16:39
The young Scottish violinist visited Buckingham Palace to receive the honour, recognising her charity work and musical talent.
Violinist Nicola Benedetti received her MBE for services to music and charity this morning. The honour recognises the 25-year-old star's career as a soloist and recording artist, as well as her outreach work with the El Sistema Scotland programme.
"The Queen was lovely," Nicola posted on Twitter this afternoon. "I am very touched that my mum, dad and sister all came along."
Nicola became involved El Sistema Scotland’s Big Noise project, a music initiative partnered with the El Sistema in Venezuela in 2010. As part of her role as 'Musical Big Sister', she makes regular visits to Raploch to work with young people and conduct masterclasses.
Other classical music figures featuring on this year's honours list include Michael Berman, founder of the Southbank Sinfonia, John Butt of the Dunedin Consort and the University of Glasgow.
