As if sustaining the levels of excellence needed for a career as a top soloist and chamber musician didn’t require enough hard work and dedication, the Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti has now taken on one of the biggest roles in the world of arts administration: director of the Edinburgh International Festival (she is the first woman and the first Scot to do so). Her inaugural festival season kicks off this month and on page 24 she tells Rebecca Franks about what she hopes to achieve, and why the need to throw herself into immense artistic challenges seems to be written into her DNA as a musician.