VIOLINIST Nicola Benedetti and her boyfriend have split after a series of rows.
The star and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich had been together for nine years after meeting at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Surrey.
Benedetti, 29, and her German-born partner are still touring internationally, together, playing a romantic piece specially written for them.
The 33-year-old cellist has moved out of the London home they shared for a new life in Berlin.
The pair, who frequently play as part of a trio, said the break-up had been worst for their Ukrainian pianist Alexei Grynyu, who was caught in the midst of their spats.
News of the split broke She as they were caught unawares during a live question-and-answer session. They were asked: “What is like playing and touring together when you are in a relationship?”
The violinist replied: “Er, well, we are no longer in a relationship, but as you can see very good friends, and very close still and do a lot of concerts together.
“We have just done two trio performances together and this is our third, and we have concerts in the future.
“But how was it [the relationship]? It was… sometimes Alexei had a tough time because we would argue very openly as anybody in a relationship does and Alexei would be sitting with head nearly inside the piano – just like ‘let me out of this room please,’ so it was sometimes tough on him, but it was nice.”
Elschenbroich added: “I know what it was like from the other side because I was in an ensemble with a couple – a married couple – and I know how it feels when you know what the argument is about on the surface, [but] isn’t just about that.
“There is a lot underlying. It’s always about something deeper than that. You don’t know what it is is, but you feel it is something. I think it is really uncomfortable.
“That no longer is the case now’ Benedetti added: “No. We are very polite to each other, but I would always say it is always worse for that third person. Like the child with parents, the argument seems worse to you than it actually is, when you are in the middle of it.
“But that has given the impression that we argued all the time. We didn’t we had…”
Elschenbroich com- mented: “No, not all the time.”
He said he had moved out, saying: “I live in Berlin now, which I would say I prefer. It is nicer to live in – it is much more relaxed than London.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel