Nigel Kennedy: Maverick violinist on his career, talent shows and Brexit

Nigel Kennedy has spoken out about the hate crime that has followed June's Brexit vote, as he prepares to release a new album of his compositions.

The maverick violinist, who has lived in Poland for the past decade playing with Polish jazz and classical musicians, said the outcome of Britain's EU referendum and its aftermath has deeply saddened his friends there.

The musician, who shot to fame with his 1989 recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, said Polish people "love" benefiting from the UK's multicultural society.

Speaking to ITV News, he said: "The Polish really love the British. They like coming over and benefiting from the multicultural society that we've got which they don't look like having even in 100 years.

"They like the opportunity to be able to do things at a high level. Us British we love Poland because they've got a hard working community, they've got a wonderful attitude."

Kennedy, who turns 60 next month, owes much of his success to Yehudi Menuhin - his former mentor and guide from a young age.

One of the greatest violinists of the 20th Century, Menuhin spotted Kennedy's talent when he was just a boy. Decades later, Kennedy has written his musical thank you.

"He gave me a scholarship and paid for all my tuition and lodging for 10 years," he told ITV News Correspondent Nina Nannar.

"I probably wouldn't have been a classical musician or wouldn't have been able to approach classical music except for him putting me in that environment and helping with it."

Although he rose to international fame as a classical violinist, Kennedy has not been afraid to use pop music techniques, even if it had traditionalists frowning. And the Jimi Hendrix fan is still at it today. His aim, he says, is just to reach as many people as he can.

"Well it's a bit embarrassing but I do love to elicit a frown," he said. "I'd never considered myself to being the Florence Nightingale of music, I'm not going to save music. All I'm trying to do is communicate it in the best way possible."

Kennedy, an avid Aston Villa fan, says he is enjoying music "more than ever", adding he was treating each gig "like it is the last one".

Kennedy is a big Aston Villa fan. Credit: ITV News

But he is not a fan of talent shows such as The X Factor.

"I don't watch that type of s*** because I think competition in music is completely against the spirit of it anyway. How can musicians compete against each other it's a collaborative art form?

"And I think winning a competition is not necessarily fantastic even for the winner.

"Let alone to be called a loser by some monkeys who can't even perform no more who are sitting behind a desk. That is incongruous.

"It's going to send some people crazy and then they are replaced by another winner the next year so it doesn't even amount for a very long term result. You're in you're out."

Nigel Kennedy's new album, My World, will be released on December 23.