Nigel Kennedy returns to play Vivaldi

Aston Villa-supporting violin virtuoso Nigel Kennedy returns to Birmingham in November for an evening of Vivaldi.

He appears at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Monday, November 1, 2010, in a programme which will include Vivaldi concertos and Kennedy's legendary interpretation of The Four Seasons.

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday, April 16, and are priced at £75, £55, £50, £39.50 and £35, plus booking fees.

For over twenty-five years, Nigel Kennedy has been acknowledged as one of the world's leading violin virtuosos and is, without doubt, one of the most important violinists Britain has ever produced. His virtuoso technique, unique talent and mass appeal have brought fresh perspectives to both the classical and contemporary repertoire. He is the best selling classical violinist of all time.

The latest Nigel Kennedy Quintet album, Shhh!, recorded in November 2009, confirms the maverick status and omnivorous musical taste of one of Britain's finest and most unpredictable musicians.

"I am a natural improviser. I can't just always stand up and follow a score," says Kennedy, the virtuoso violinist who has been ploughing his own furrow ever since as a 16 year old student he joined the jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli on stage at the Carnegie Hall – to the alarm of his classical teachers at the Juilliard School.

To this day, Kennedy refuses to play by any one set of rules. Over the past decade, as well as recording Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven Mlynarski and Karlowicz, he has laid his personal instrumental stamp on the songs of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors and Kate Bush; performed the violin intro to Baba O'Riley on stage with the Who; invited Jeff Beck onto the Prom stage with the NKQ; explored traditional klezmer music with the Polish band, Kroke, and dug deep into the roots of modern jazz on the Blue Note Sessions, an album he recorded in NYC in 2006 with legends Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette.

Following his 2008 excursion into the self-penned tracks of the NKQ's A Very Nice Album, Kennedy's latest collection reveals an even more eclectic character. It was recorded at one of rock's fabled residential country studios, Rockfield in South Wales with the Polish musicians which make up the NKQ: Tomasz Grzegorski (tenor sax, soprano sax & bass clarinet); Piotr Wylezol (piano & Hammond); Adam "Szabas" Kowalewski (contrabass & electric bass) and Krzysztof Dziedzic (drums).

Nigel Kennedy curates a weekend celebrating everything Poland at London's Southbank Centre at the end of May 2010. Entitled Nigel Kennedy's Polish Weekend, the event will also mark the UK debut of his brand new chamber orchestra, the Orchestra of Life, currently making its worldwide debut in Germany.

It is with this orchestra Kennedy will perform the Vivaldi programme in November.