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Scottish violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti has confirmed her long-rumoured relationship with American jazz legend Wynton Marsalis — and revealed the pair are not only married but recently welcomed their first child together.
In an interview published Saturday in The Telegraph, Benedetti, 38, spoke candidly for the first time about her relationship with the 63-year-old trumpeter, putting to rest years of speculation. The couple’s daughter was born in May 2024.
“I don’t tend to discuss my private life because people don’t come to my concerts because of whom I’m in a relationship with,” she told the paper. “They come because I play the violin.”
The two musicians first met more than two decades ago when a then-17-year-old Benedetti travelled to New York for a concert and met Marsalis, already a celebrated figure in the jazz world. She later described herself as a “huge fan” of his before they struck up what she called a “certain type of kinship.” Though they remained friends for many years, their relationship eventually deepened into a romantic partnership.
Marsalis — a towering figure in American music and a driving force in the jazz renaissance of the 1980s — has won nine Grammy Awards and is the first artist to win in both jazz and classical categories. He has four other children from previous relationships.
Their musical collaboration has been as fruitful as their personal one. Marsalis composed his Violin Concerto in D for Benedetti, a work that earned the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, based on her acclaimed recording with Cristian Măcelaru and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The album also featured Marsalis’s Fiddle Dance Suite, another piece written for Benedetti.
Beyond her performance career, Benedetti remains deeply committed to arts education. Since founding the Benedetti Foundation in 2019, she has helped bring classical music education to more than 100,000 people of all ages. She has also served as artistic director of the Edinburgh International Festival since 2022.
“The future of classical music is definitely threatened by the changes to work ethic and mentality,” she said in the Telegraph interview. “You cannot cheat your way through learning a musical instrument: ChatGPT is not going to teach you the violin. It’s impossible to learn music on any level with AI.”
Benedetti has long been vocal about the importance of music in schools, often criticizing government cuts to the arts. “Listening properly to classical music for 15 minutes a day is as important for a child as reading a book,” she said.
Though their private life had remained under wraps until now, Benedetti and Marsalis’s shared commitment to music — both as performers and educators — speaks volumes about the bond they’ve built over the years, one forged through artistry, mutual admiration, and a shared passion for nurturing the next generation of musicians.