The Yehudi Menuhin School

The Yehudi Menuhin School was founded in 1963 by the American-British violinist Sir Yehudi Menuhin OM KBE — one of the great violinists of the twentieth century — as a specialist music school for exceptionally gifted young musicians. The school operates today at Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, and is co-educational ages 8-18 with around 80 pupils, predominantly boarders. The Head is Kate Clanchy.

The school is one of only five UK schools formally recognised by the DfE as a Specialist Music School (with the Royal Ballet School, Wells Cathedral School, Chetham's School of Music and the Purcell School). The school operates a substantial Music and Dance Scheme scholarship programme funded by the DfE, providing significant fee remissions for academically and musically gifted pupils.

The school's most internationally famous alumnus is Nigel Kennedy — the violinist whose 1989 recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons with the English Chamber Orchestra became the best-selling classical music recording in history, selling over 3 million copies and bringing classical violin music to a generation of popular audiences. Kennedy's distinctive punk-aesthetic image revolutionised classical-music marketing. The Grammy-winning Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti CBE was a Yehudi Menuhin School pupil. The school operates substantial scholarship funding.