NICOLA BENEDETTI, the teenage violin virtuoso from Ayrshire, is to launch a range of mobile phone ringtones to tap into the youth market.

Samples from three tracks on Benedetti’s new album — Havanaise by Camille Saint-Saëns, Méditation by Jules Massenet and Contemplation by Johannes Brahms — have been sampled for the ringtones, which will cost between £2 and £3.50 to download.

The venture promises to boost the already phenomenal earning potential of the 17-year-old, who signed a £1m record contract with Deutsche Grammophon earlier this year and commands more than £10,000 for a 20-minute recital.

Her recording company expects to sell thousands of the samples. They will be aimed at young pop fans who have made ringtones a £120m-a-year business in the UK — twice the current value of the British singles market.

The privately educated 2004 Young Musician of the Year — whose father is a wealthy businessman and who owns an 18th-century Guarneri violin worth hundreds of thousands of pounds — has already made a foray into the pop scene with a performance at the Glastonbury festival last summer. She has also performed a series of concerts in schools to widen the appeal of classical music.

“Young people are a particularly important target group for this album, so we really want to maximise all the techniques that we can to take the music to them,” said Mark Wilkinson of her record company. “Ringtones are part of young people’s culture.”

Wilkinson added that he was convinced Benedetti would convert teenage pop fans.

“I’ve worked with many artists over the years who have come with the mission statement that they want to take their music to a wider audience but I think, hand on heart, that Nicola is someone who really will be able to achieve that,” he added.

“She is a once-in-a-generation talent and her career is only just beginning.”

Despite being compared with the violin virtuoso Vanessa Mae and teenage singer Charlotte Church, both of whom have become successful crossover artists, Benedetti has resisted the pressure to play “pop classics” and has stuck to classical repertoire on her album, released next month.

Nevertheless, Mae, who recorded three classical albums by the time she was 12 and has amassed a £35m fortune, has warned Benedetti to be on her guard against attempts to manipulate her image and dumb down her music.

“Nicola needs to make sure she doesn’t just become somebody who is marketed and hyped for a quick profit, that she is someone who can entertain people for a long time. Her talent must come first.”

Classical ringtones are becoming increasingly popular. In February, the London Symphony Orchestra, which performed on Benedetti’s, became the first classical ensemble to record a range of ringtones, from which it hopes to make £20,000 a year.

Julian de Ste Croix, acting chief executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, added: “Nicola is just the right person to help take classical music to a younger audience and the fact that she is launching a range of ringtones can only be beneficial.”

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